Anticoagulant therapy in private practice.

THE DISCOVERY of heparin by McClean in 1916' and the identification of bishydroxycoumerin (Dicumarol) by Link and his co-workers in 1934 as the agent responsible for sweet clover disease in cattle,2 stimulated studies of the clinical use of anticoagulant therapy. The excellent work of Jorpes,3 Zilliacus,4 Barker5" 6 of the Mayo Clinic, and Wright7'8 of New York, and others,9' 10, n has crystallized the indications and contraindications and evaluated the benefits and dangers of this form of therapy in thromboembolic disease. There remain some, however, who question the value of anticoagulant therapy.'2' 13 There are others who maintain that these drugs can be safely and effectively administered only by a few experts supported by a Research Laboratory or a teaching hospital.14' 15 During the past six years in private practice in the community of Tucson, Arizona, the author has successfully administered anticoagulant therapy to 181 patients suffering from thromboembolic conditions. It is the purpose of this report to review this experience and to demonstrate that anticoagulant therapy is a practical, feasible and effective form of therapy in private practice in a small community.