Myocardial infarction and deep-vein thrombosis.

In a study of 52 patients admitted into the coronary intensive care unit the incidence of deep-vein thrombosis was measured with the (125)I-fibrinogen test. Of these patients 31 were eventually confirmed to be suffering from acute myocardial infarction. This preliminary study showed that in patients with a confirmed infarct who were not treated with anticoagulants the incidence of deep-vein thrombosis was 38% and in those treated it was 5.5%. In patients who were "severely ill" from whatever the cause there was a high incidence of deep-vein thrombosis (68%).