Long-Term, Low-Intensity Warfarin Therapy for the Prevention of Recurrent Venous Thromboembolism

Standard therapy to prevent recurrent venous thromboembolism includes 3 to 12 months of treatment with full-dose warfarin with a target international normalized ratio (INR) between 2.0 and 3.0. However, for long-term management, no therapeutic agent has shown an acceptable benefit-to-risk ratio.

Patients with idiopathic venous thromboembolism who had received full-dose anticoagulation therapy for a median of 6.5 months were randomly assigned to placebo or low-intensity warfarin (target INR, 1.5 to 2.0). Participants were followed for recurrent venous thromboembolism, major hemorrhage, and death.