The prevention of postoperative thromboembolic complications with small heparin doses.

For the prevention of postoperative thromboembolic complications (TEC) in patients with thromboembolic risk, heparin was administered subcutaneously in small doses, adapted to each patient. The efficiency of each method was confirmed clinically by the absence of TEC, verified by the administration of labelled fibrinogen and by the anatomopathologic examination. In contrast, in the control group there were 3.93% cases of TEC with 0.97% fatal pulmonary embolism. The local complications of heparin treatment depend upon the type of product administered. The method has advantages but also certain drawbacks that require the taking of all pre-, intra- and postoperative measures for prevention of TEC.