Rebound Phenomena after Anticoagulant Therapy in Cerebrovascular Disease

Anticoagulant therapy did not reduce the incidence of further nonfatal cerebrovascular accidents in 90 patients who had already experienced one or more such accidents as compared with a control group. Following gradual withdrawal of therapy, however, there was a significantly increased incidence of nonfatal cerebrovascular accidents during the first three months after therapy. This suggests that following cessation of anticoagulant therapy there is a period of true “rebound” during which thrombo-embolic incidents are more likely to recur.