الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Cardiovascular diseases continue to rank first among all disease’s categories and are the main leading cause of death all over the world (1). Heparin is considered a life saving medication for the treatment of various types of CVDs. Since 1984 heparin has established a role in the prevention and treatment of CVD especially venous thromboembolism. The burden of venous thromboembolism is due to death from pulmonary embolism (6). Also heparin used for treatment of patients with unstable angina, myocardial infarction and atrial fibrillation (10,11).
One of the problems, that nurse’s encounter while administering heparin, is the local side effects of it and its efficacy in the injection site. Local side effects of heparin that occur after subcutaneous heparin injection are bruising, erythema, tenderness, hematoma, burning, swelling, induration and ulceration. The negative consequences of these local side effects lead to physical discomfort and psychological impact among patients and limits possible sites for further injection (9,17).
The present study aimed to compare efficacy and local side effects of sodium heparin injection in different subcutaneous sites for cardiovascular patients. The study was carried out at the cardiology and angelology department of the Main University Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt. The data collection extended from June to end of December (2004). The sample comprised 60 adult cardiovascular patients of both sexes selected and assigned alterntingly into three groups 20 each. The patients fulfilled the following criteria: Received subcutaneous sodium heparin (5000, 10000) units every 12 hours, middle age adult ranges between 45-60 years and having no skin problem or operation at the injection sites.