Thromboembolism and thromboembolic diseased states continue to be one of the major problems of clinical medicine. The potential hazards of thrombotic episodes and the frequent sequelae of chronic phlebitic processes render the effective use of anticoagulant drugs an increasingly important part of the clinician's therapeutic armamentarium. Such use is dependent upon the availability of anticoagulant drugs with clinically dependable pharmacological properties and on reliable assay procedures by which therapy with such drugs can be followed and controlled. A number of prothrombin depressants have been developed in the past 15 years, and of these, acenocoumarin (Sintrom) is one of the more recent ones. It is a nonhygroscopic light crystalline powder which is odorless and tasteless and is supplied for clinical use as 4 mg. scored tablets. It is stable under normal storage conditions and reacts as a weak acid. Chemically it is 3-(αacetonyl-4-nitro-benzyl) 4-hydroxycoumarin.
Previous reports on acenocoumarin have described