[Hemarthroses complicating anticoagulant therapy (heparin, oral anticoagulants)].

Three patients with hemarthrosis complicating anticoagulant therapy are described. Two had acute hemarthrosis of the knee joint occurring during long term oral anticoagulant therapy for cardiovascular disorders. Joint symptoms disappeared rapidly after arthrocentesis and diminution of the dose of oral anticoagulant medication. The third patient has been on chronic hemodialysis for the last three years. After 2 years of this therapy he developed periarthritis of the right shoulder, followed suddenly by hemarthrosis of the right shoulder which remained symptomatic for 9 months in spite of several joint aspirations and reduction in the dosage of heparin administered during hemodialysis. Resolution of the hemarthrosis of the right shoulder occurred only when the vascular access for the dialysis sessions was displaced from the right to the left forearm. It is assumed that there was communication in the venous draining territories of the arterio-venous fistula and the shoulder articulation.