EFFECT OF HEPARIN AND PENICILLIN ON EXPERIMENTALLY PRODUCED THROMBOPHLEBITIS

Abstract

EXPERIMENTAL evidence was produced in a previous report¹ to show that heparin would prevent the formation or cause the solution of an intravascular clot. It was also shown that heparin was particularly effective as an anticoagulant when administered to the animal both prior to and immediately after the formation of the clot. Heparin was of no effect when given several days after the formation of the clot, when the latter was partly or completely organized. The present study was undertaken with the view of determining whether heparin alone, or in combination with penicillin, could bring about the solution of a clot in the presence of experimentally produced, acute thrombophlebitis. It was surmised that the action of the drug would be different in the presence of an acute inflammatory process in the vein than in normal circumstances. Two problems confronted us in this study: first, would the administration of heparin prevent