ANTICOAGULANT THERAPY OF CORONARY THROMBOSIS WITH MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

The possibility of preventing the extension of coronary thromboses and the development of mural thrombi in the presence of myocardial infarction by the use of anticoagulants was suggested by Solandt, Nassim and Best¹ in 1938. These investigators were able to prevent the development of both coronary thrombi and of intracardiac mural thrombi under conditions in which such thrombi are usually produced experimentally in animals, by the use of the anticoagulant, heparin. Their observations were not applied to human beings on any significant scale because of the difficulties and the risk felt to be inherent in the use of heparin clinically. In the years 1945 and 1946, Wright,² Nichol and Page³ and Peters, Guyther and Brambel⁴ reported encouraging results following the use of the anticoagulant "dicumarol" in the treatment of coronary thrombosis with myocardial infarction in human beings. These reports were preliminary in nature, since only small