1997 ICATH Meeting Controversies in Antithrombotic Therapy in Cardiovascular Diseases

point in human medical treatment. Dicoumarols, heparin, aspi-rin, and more recently, direct antithrombins and platelet glyco-protein IIb/IIIa receptor blockers are the most frequent medi-cations used as antithrombotics. The role of these drugs in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases remains controversial. Low-dose aspirin (80-100 mg/day) should be used for second-ary prevention in patients with a history of coronary disease. Primary prevention in patients with no risk factors is not rec-ommended. Studies using oral anticoagulant therapy indicated that long-term therapy achieves substantial benefit in arterial complications in patient survivors of myocardial infarction. Combined therapy of aspirin and a higher dose of oral antico-agulant than that used in the CARS trial seem necessary after myocardial infarction, and further studies should be under-taken. In the treatment of unstable angina, the combined use o