title: Evaluation of mini-dose heparin administration as a prophylaxis against postoperative pulmonary embolism: a prospective double-blind study.
abstract: A prospective double-blind study was instituted in a group of 150 general surgical patients to test the effectiveness of mini-dose heparinization in the pre- and postoperative periods. There was a 21 per cent reduction in the incidence of deep venous thrombosis in the heparin treated group. A radiopharmaceutical imaging technique with 99m-technetium macroaggregated albumin was used to evaluate the deep venous system. The procedure proved to be simple, safe, and painless; however, it was difficult to differentiate venous stasis from deep venous thrombosis. A negative study was good evidence that deep venous thrombosis did not exist. An additional benefit of this procedure was that a perfusion lung study could be obtained which provided additional information regarding pulmonary embolism without injecting additional radiopharmaceutical. Again, the negative perfusion lung study provided more information.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000418:Albumins; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D005340:Fibrinogen; D006493:Heparin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007279:Injections, Subcutaneous; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010690:Phlebography; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013667:Technetium; D013924:Thrombophlebitis / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D000418:Albumins; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D013667:Technetium; D005340:Fibrinogen; D006493:Heparin