By combining clinical information such as weight, height, and concomitant medications with VKOR and CYP2C9 genotypic information, several algorithms have been devised that calculate warfarin doses. These algorithms have been shown to accurately predict warfarin doses in retrospective studies of patients already on long-term stable warfarin doses. Some small, pilot studies in orthopedic patients suggest that prospective genetic-based dosing is feasible and may result in achieving stable doses sooner in patients with certain genetic variants. However, the prospective studies are small, pilot studies limited to orthopedic patients that did not include medical patients with common indications requiring chronic oral anticoagulation. They are also limited by study designs that include only historical controls. No RCTs have been reported in the literature and further evaluation is needed to determine the utility and cost-effectiveness of genetic-based algorithms. The NHLBI is planning a double-blind, randomized three-arm trial, but the trial will not begin enrolling subjects until 2008 at the earliest and data analysis and dissemination is planned to begin beyond 2011.