A European View on the North American Fifth Consensus on Antithrombotic Therapy*
- Marc Verstraete, MD,
- Colin R. M. Prentice, MD,
- Michel Samama, MD,
- Raymond Verhaeghe, MD, and
- on behalf of a European Working Group†
- *From the Center for Molecular and Vascular Biology (Drs. Verstraete and Verhaeghe), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium; Division of Medicine (Dr. Prentice), University of Leeds, United Kingdom; and the Department of Hématologie-Biologie (Dr. Samana), Hôtel-Dieu de Paris, France.
- †A complete list of participants is located in the Appendix.
Abstract
An American-Canadian group of experts have, in the November 1998 issue of CHEST, published for the fifth time their recommendations for antithrombotic therapy. This remarkable consensus document was the result of an extensive review of the literature by an interdisciplinary group. Considering the impact of this document on medical practice, also outside North America, a group of European experts reviewed in detail the fifth report, particularly the sections on clinical indications of antithrombotic treatment. The aim was not to indicate the many areas of agreement and to quote literature that has become available since publication of the last consensus documents, but rather to refer to the gray zones of uncertainty and limited number of divergent opinions.
Footnotes
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Abbreviations: ACCP = American College of Chest Physicians; AF = atrial fibrillation; APTT = activated partial thromboplastin time; IMA = internal mammary artery; INR = international normalized ratio; LMW = low-molecular-weight; rtPA = recombinant tissue plasminogen activator; UH = unfractionated heparin
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- Accepted January 18, 2000.
- Received November 11, 1999.
