Treatment of venous thromboembolism with low molecular weight heparins.

The accumulating evidence indicates that certain LMW-heparins administered subcutaneously may replace classical intravenous heparin therapy. Certain of these subcutaneously administered LMW-heparins do not require monitoring. The simplified care offered by LMW-heparin therapy offers the possibility of transferring care from in the hospital to out of the hospital in uncomplicated patients with deep vein thrombosis. The advantages to the patient of avoiding in-hospital care and its associated hazards are obvious. Outpatient LMW-heparin therapy will likely prove to be highly cost-effective. It is uncertain at the present time whether the findings associated with an individual LMW-heparin preparation can be extrapolated to a different LMW-heparin. For this reason the findings of clinical trials apply only to the particular LMW-heparin evaluated and cannot be generalized to the LMW-heparins at large.