A decade of contribution to therapeutic progress: bemiparin in the management of venous thromboembolism. Foreword.

摘要

Venous thromboembolism is a major cause of death and disability in hospitalised patients. Though the research for an effective method of prophylaxis against venous thromboembolism has been going on for nearly 90 years, a method which was effective in the total elimination of this condition had yet to be developed. This uninspiring state of affairs has been due to two main reasons; Firstly, essential knowledge of the 'trigger' mechanism that initiates intravascular coagulation has been lacking. Secondly, the lack of a simple method of prophylaxis which could be used to protect all "high risk" patients from fatal pulmonary embolism had not been available. This unsatisfactory situation had been further complicated by the lack of information about the natural history of venous thromboembolism.