Low molecular weight heparin in the symptomatic treatment of chronic venous insufficiency. Controlled double blind study vs calcium heparin.

Ninety patients suffering from chronic venous insufficiency were submitted to subcutaneous treatment with calcium heparin in fixed doses (5000 I.U. t.i.d.) or with different doses of a low molecular weight heparin fraction 7,500 AXaU/day or 15,000 AXaU/day) for thirty days with a double blind random design. On days 0, 15 and 30, clinical parameters were assessed (edema, painfulness, cutaneous trophic lesions, paresthesia) and laboratory tests carried out (fibrinogenemia, plasma viscosity, euglobin lysis time, general tolerance parameters); at the beginning and at the end of the study the plethysmographic indexes of maximum venous flow and venous capacitance were evaluated. Treatment with 15,000 AXaU, of low molecular weight heparin caused modifications of the clinical and instrumental parameters which were on the whole better than those caused by heparin calcium t.i.d. throughout the study. The administration of 7,500 AXaU of low molecular weight heparin was practically equivalent to the control treatment at the end of the study, although at the intermediate assessment it was slightly less effective despite the fact that it had produced significant modifications with respect to the basal values. Treatment with low molecular weight heparin, with both doses used, produced fewer side effects than the reference drug.