Treatment of deep vein thrombosis. A trial of heparin, streptokinase, and arvin.

Thirty patients with deep vein thrombosis of the legs of less than four days' duration were allocated at random to treatment with heparin, streptokinase, or Arvin under laboratory control. When the fate of the thrombi was assessed by objective techniques-phlebography and the (125)I-labelled fibrinogen test-the incidence of complete thrombolysis was greatest in the streptokinase group. Complications arose during treatment in each group but were least with Arvin. The natural history of the disease favours clinical but not always anatomical recovery.