Anticoagulation Therapy in Cerebral Thrombosis and Embolism

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Abstract
A study of consecutive admissions of patients with cerebral infarcts treated with dicumarol as compared with a control group revealed no appreciable difference in the mortality rate, the incidence of complications, nor the natural course of recovery between the 2 groups. Presence of ante mortem thrombi in some of the treatment group suggests that prolongation of prothrombin time is not in itself sufficient to prevent intravascular blood clotting. Careful hospital control of anticoagulant treatment with dicumarol is necessary because of the narrow margin between the therapeutic level and the hemorrhagic level, as well as the difficulty in maintaining the therapeutic level without daily prothrombin time level determinations.