Al-Badri Ahmed, Spyropoulos Alex C
Department of Medicine, Lenox Hill Hospital, NSLIJHS, 130 East 77th Street, 6th Floor, Black Hall Building, New York, NY 10075, USA.
Department of Medicine, Lenox Hill Hospital, NSLIJHS, 130 East 77th Street, 5th Floor, Achilles Building, New York, NY 10075, USA.
Clin Lab Med. 2014 Sep;34(3):519-36. doi: 10.1016/j.cll.2014.06.011. Epub 2014 Jul 21.
Venous thromboembolism covers a range of conditions from deep vein thrombosis to pulmonary embolism. Treatment aims to alleviate symptoms, minimize acute morbidity and mortality by preventing the extension or potentially fatal embolization of the initial thrombus, and avoid postthrombotic syndrome. Anticoagulant therapy is the mainstay of treatment, but treatment decisions and the choice of an appropriate anticoagulation agent are modified according to the predisposition for venous thromboembolism, the site and extent of thrombus, the presence or absence of symptomatic embolism, and patient's bleeding risk. Newer oral anticoagulants have been developed to overcome the drawbacks of other agents, improve patient care, and simplify and improve management.
