Low molecular weight heparins for long-term therapy of peripheral vascular disease. Results of a controlled study

The effects of long-term therapy (7 months) with a new low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) on 27 patients with peripheral vascular disease were compared with the therapeutic effects of traditional calcium heparin (Ca-He) on 28 patients with the same pathologies. The drugs were administered subcutaneously and the results were checked after one and three months and after the end of therapy. Good improvement in the clinical symptoms in the two groups of subjects (pain, cramps, formications, pangs, edemas, or hypoesthesia) was already observed at the first control and was similar for the two therapies. LMWH was able to exert a greater separation between its antithrombotic and anticoagulant actions, as demonstrated by the laboratory controls (factor Xa, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen). The local tolerability of LMWH was higher, as demonstrated by the lower number of side effects, such as pain, hematomas, and burning at injection site. No patient in either group presented any problem of general tolerance.