An Evaluation of Infusion Therapy (Including Dextran) for Venous Thrombosis

THE EFFECTIVENESS of the various forms of available chemotherapy in preventing or reducing the magnitude of venous thrombosis following trauma or vascular operations remains a disputed and unresolved matter. Both the anticoagulant drugs and fibrinolytic agents have been a subject of extensive investigation over the past decade. The use of anticoagulant drugs, although generally accepted to be of value in clinically reducing the morbidity of venous thrombotic disease, is restricted in many circumstances by the potential hazard of administering these agents to the recently traumatized or postoperative patient. The fibrinolytic agents, because of their relative toxicity and impotence, have largely been abandoned for clinical use. Recently, new interest has been aroused following the recognition of antithrombotic properties attributed to the dextran solutions. Preliminary studies in this laboratory have suggested that the mode of administration of antithrombotic solutions comprised an important factor in inhibiting venous thrombosis. This report describes a comparison of the antithrombotic effectiveness of a standard clinical dextran solution (molecular weight, 75,000), low molecular-weight dextran solution* (molecular weight, 40,000), a control, isotonic, crystalloid solution (2.5% dextrose in 0.45% saline), and a new colloid solution (currently under investigation as a plasma ex-