The results of post-mortem examination in 173 patients followed over an average period
of five and a half years after their initial myocardial infarction are described.
These 173 patients were divided into four groups according to whether or not they
had received an oral anticoagulant and if so how adequately. An index of coronary
and myocardial lesions was established for each heart. Recent occlusive coronary thromboses
were four times less frequent in the group of patients who had received adequate anticoagulant
therapy than in the other three groups of patients (p˂0,001). There was no significant
difference between the inadequately treated groups and the untreated group. The recurrences
of myocardial infarction were associated in 90 per cent of the cases with a recent
occlusive thrombosis in the corresponding coronary artery and were found four times
less frequently in the group subjected to effective long-term anticoagulant therapy
(p˂0,001).
