Articles tagged ‘warfarin’

Aspirin increases the risk of bleeding without decreasing the risk of stroke/thromboembolism sufficiently in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), according to a study¹ published recently in Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

A new oral anticoagulant, dabigatran etexilate (Pradaxa®, Boehringer Ingelheim), has been made available in the UK. Following the EU licence for dabigatran, granted on 1st August 2011,¹ a recommended dose of 150 mg twice daily is now licensed in the UK for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in eligible adult patients with AF.

The superiority of dabigatran to warfarin, as reported by the Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulation Therapy (RE-LY) trial, may be offset by its cost, according to an editorial¹ published recently in Circulation.

A record number of 31,371 delegates attended the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)Congress in Barcelona this week. Clinical trials in atrial fibrillation were among the most well attended sessions, receiving worldwide news coverage within minutes of presentation. Principal among these were RE-LY and PLATO, details of which we feature here.

Use of the WATCHMAN® left atrial appendage (LAA) device may be an alternative to warfarin to prevent stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation.