ALTHOUGH THE usual sequence in experimental medicine is to go from laboratory experiments to the clinic, at times it is valuable to work in the opposite direction and bring laboratory investigation to bear on problems which have not been solved by direct clinical approach. Despite the widespread clinical use of anticoagulant drugs in the treatment of thromboembolic disease, important questions remain about their antithrombotic efficacy, methods of administration, and relative effectiveness of the different drugs. It is common experience that patients with adequate anticoagulant activity as measured by in vitro tests still develop thrombosis.
At least three general approaches have been used in the production of thrombosis in animals. These involve injury to the endothelial surface of blood vessels, retardation of blood flow, and production of hypercoagulability of the blood. Usually two of the three factors are required to produce experimental thrombosis.
In the present study, jugular vein thrombosis was