Anticoagulation in venous thrombosis.

Major studies addressing various aspects of the treatment of deep vein thrombosis are reviewed. It has lately been demonstrated that heparin should be dosed according to body weight and is preferably given as subcutaneous injections twice daily. Alternatively, low-molecular-weight heparins may be given in a fixed dose once daily, which does not require monitoring. Oral anticoagulation should be started concomitantly with heparin and targeted at an international normalized ratio of 2.0-3.0. This treatment should continue for a longer duration than previously accepted, in many cases for 6 months. For patients with contraindications to oral anticoagulation, secondary prophylaxis with a low-molecular-weight heparin is also effective and safe.