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For patients with deep-vein thrombosis, low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) is at least as effective and safe as unfractionated heparin (UFH) and is much easier to administer and monitor. Consequently, many patients who once would have required hospitalization can now receive anticoagulation treatment at home. To assess the safety and efficacy of LMWH in patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE), researchers performed a meta-analysis of 12 randomized trials (1951 patients) that compared fixed-dose, subcutaneous LMWH with dose-adjusted, intravenous UFH as initial treatment for PE.
Compared with UFH, LMWH was associated with a nonsignificantly lower incidence of any recurrent, symptomatic venous thromboembolism at the end of treatment (1.4% …