Long-Term Anticoagulant Use Studied

Abstract

The long-term prophylactic use of anticoagulants in patients who have suffered a myocardial infarction does not, on the whole, appear to convey any appreciable benefit. This conclusion is based upon a 10-year, double-blind study of 255 patients in which those receiving anticoagulant therapy failed to show any statistically significant reduction in mortality or incidence of complications. <h3>Careful Use</h3> Arthur J. Seaman, MD, and Herbert E. Griswold, MD, principal authors of the study, emphasized that their results indicate only that long-term anticoagulant therapy should not be used indiscriminately in all patients who have had an acute myocardial infarction. Dr. Seaman, who reported the final results of the University of Oregon study to the annual scientific session of the American Heart Association, pointed out that the use of anticoagulants is indicated for short-term use in patients immediately after infarction; in patients with valvular disease or following heart valve replacement; and in persons