Skip Navigation
Menu
Letters |1 December 2009

Is Lifelong Anticoagulation Worth the Risk in Patients With Unprovoked DVT?

Samuel Z. Goldhaber, MD

Article, Author, and Disclosure Information
Author, Article, and Disclosure Information
Potential Conflicts of Interest: None disclosed.
  • From Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.
×
FULL TEXT
Potential Conflicts of Interest: None disclosed.
IN RESPONSE:
PREVENT studied the optimal management of patients with an initial idiopathic and unprovoked VTE. Although PREVENT was not powered to assess mortality, the data monitoring and safety board terminated the study early because of the marked reduction in recurrent VTE in the low-intensity warfarin group (target international normalized ratio, 1.5 to 2.0) compared with the placebo group. I am not aware of any cancer risk with warfarin, which has been available in the United States since 1954. The long-term risk for recurrent VTE after an initial DVT or pulmonary embolism is high, about 30% 10 years after discontinuation of anticoagulation. Therefore, patients managed without anticoagulation after unprovoked VTE have substantial long-term risk for a recurrent event. The take-home message from PREVENT is to consider long-term anticoagulation with low-intensity warfarin after an initial 3 to 6 months of standard anticoagulation in patients with idiopathic VTE.
FULL TEXT
PDF
Not Available
Citations
Citation

Goldhaber SZ. Is Lifelong Anticoagulation Worth the Risk in Patients With Unprovoked DVT?. Ann Intern Med. ;151:827. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-151-11-200912010-00028

Download citation file:

© 2019

×
Permissions

Published: Ann Intern Med. 2009;151(11):827.

DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-151-11-200912010-00028

0 Citations
CONTINUE WITH LIMITED ACCESS
Annals of Internal Medicine
To receive access to the full text of freely available articles, alerts, and more. You will be directed to acponline.org to complete your registration.
×
acp link acp
silverchair link silverchair

Copyright © 2019 American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.

Print ISSN: 0003-4819 | Online ISSN: 1539-3704

Privacy Policy

|

Conditions of Use

This site uses cookies. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our privacy policy. | Accept
×

You need a subscription to this content to use this feature.

×
PDF Downloads Require Access to the Full Article.
Annals of Internal Medicine
To receive access to the full text of freely available articles, alerts, and more. You will be directed to acponline.org to complete your registration.
×
Access to this Free Content Requires Users to be Registered and Logged In. Please Choose One of the Following Options
Annals of Internal Medicine
To receive access to the full text of freely available articles, alerts, and more. You will be directed to acponline.org to complete your registration.
×