The effects of low-dose heparin treatment on patients undergoing transvesical prostatectomy

Post-operative venous thrombosis, blood loss and pre- and post-operative plasma heparin concentrations were studied in a prospective double blind trial with low-dose heparin therapy in 59 patients undergoing transvesical prostatectomy. Thrombosis rate, diagnosed with the 125I-fibrinogen method, was significantly reduced in the first 5 post-operative days, i.e. during but not after the period of heparin therapy. One patient who developed major thrombosis in spite of heparin prophylaxis is presented. Heparin therapy did not increase average blood loss, but was suspected to be the cause of severe bleeding in 1 patient, who may have had a latent hemorrhagic diathesis. Plasma heparin levels were significantly raised during heparin therapy, and were significantly lower in both heparin and placebo treated patients on days when thromboses started.