To the Editor.—In the article by Rothermel et al, which appeared in the February issue of the Archives (106:135, 1973), the authors stated that they have adopted our schedule of dextran 40 administration. We would like to bring to the attention of the readers of the Archives that contrary to our practice, the authors had used dextran infusion only in the postoperative period. In our published papers, we have emphasized that in order for dextran to be effective in prevention of thromboembolism, it must be infused early in the course of illness and trauma and in the preoperative period, and continued during operation and in the postoperative period. Following this plan we, as well as other investigators, as pointed out by Evarts in the editorial of the same issue of the Archives (106:134, 1973), have demonstrated the safety and the efficacy of dextran in prevention of thromboembolism.
From experimental