[The effect of low-dose heparin therapy on patients in an internal medicine intensive care unit]

It is reported on 191 patients of an intensive care unit, in whom for the purpose of the prophylaxis of thromboses and thromboembolic complications a low-dose heparinisation was carried out. For comparison served the documents of 137 patients who were admitted to the same department for homogeneous reasons but had not been treated prophylactically with anticoagulants. In no case more massive haemorrhages developed which might have compelled us to interrupt the therapy. In spite of the low-dose heparinisation 4 pulmonary embolisms as well as thromboses of the abdominal aorta, the radial artery and the coronary arteries were the result; they were confirmed autoptically . Thus the low dose heparinisation does not represent a sufficient protection against the thromboembolic complications for patients with internal diseases who are confined to bed. The demand is made to establish the individual need of heparin and to adjust the heparin dose according to this.