Prevention of fatal pulmonary embolism.

Venous thromboembolism is a frequent complication in hospitalized patients. A number of drugs are now available to prevent this complication. These include dextron, oral anticoagulants, standard heparin and low-molecular-weight heparin. The efficacy of these drugs is reviewed in this paper. The data presented indicate that a single fixed daily subcutaneous injection of low-molecular-weight heparin provides a simple and an effective method of preventing death due to massive pulmonary embolism. Therefore emphasis should now be on the physicians and surgeons to protect all high-risk patients.