Fortnightly review: Anticoagulation in heart disease

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Abstract
Thromboembolism is a common complication of heart disease. The decision to prescribe an anticoagulant to prevent thromboemboli should be based on a particular patient's risk without treatment and the likely benefit and side effects of the proposed treatment. In this article we will discuss the use of warfarin and heparin in patients with heart disease. #### Summary points This review article is based on our chapter in Current Issues in Cardiology , which was subject to formal peer review and published in 1997.1 We undertook a full Medline search in each of the relevant subjects. We also sought references from recent papers, editorials, and review articles. When a choice was available we chose large well conducted double blind randomised trials, but we included observational series when they were the only available evidence. Atrial fibrillation is not benign and is the commonest cause of cardiogenic stroke (fig 1).2 Within the general population the best available estimates suggest a prevalence of 0.5% for those …