Patients are usually asked to take coumadin/ warfarin (blood thinner pills) for about 6 months after diagnosis of blood clot. Coumadin or warfarin are vitamin K antagonists. Thus, it is inconvenient since patients need to avoid certain green leafy vegetables, which contain vitamin K, in their diet. In addition, they have to get their blood tested frequently to make sure that their blood is not too thin or too thick (INR test).
Some of my patients have asked if they could be switched to aspirin alone. It would be a lot easier than taking warfarin. In this month New England Journal, a study randomly assigned 822 patients who had completed initial anticoagulant therapy after a first episode of unprovoked venous thromboembolism (blood clot) to receive aspirin, at a dose of 100 mg daily, or placebo for up to 4 years. The results showed aspirin, as compared with placebo, did not significantly reduce the rate of recurrence of venous thromboembolism but resulted in a significant reduction in the rate of major vascular events, with improved net clinical benefit.
Sorry, you still have to take the warfarin if you have blood clot but discuss this question with your physician. Furthermore, there are newer pills that may be easier to take than warfarin. FDA just approved Xarelto for blood clot but I expect this drug would cost a lot more than warfarin.
Reference:
Brighton TA, et al. Low dose aspirin fo recurrent thromboembolism. NEJM. Nov 2012.
Some of my patients have asked if they could be switched to aspirin alone. It would be a lot easier than taking warfarin. In this month New England Journal, a study randomly assigned 822 patients who had completed initial anticoagulant therapy after a first episode of unprovoked venous thromboembolism (blood clot) to receive aspirin, at a dose of 100 mg daily, or placebo for up to 4 years. The results showed aspirin, as compared with placebo, did not significantly reduce the rate of recurrence of venous thromboembolism but resulted in a significant reduction in the rate of major vascular events, with improved net clinical benefit.
Sorry, you still have to take the warfarin if you have blood clot but discuss this question with your physician. Furthermore, there are newer pills that may be easier to take than warfarin. FDA just approved Xarelto for blood clot but I expect this drug would cost a lot more than warfarin.
Reference:
Brighton TA, et al. Low dose aspirin fo recurrent thromboembolism. NEJM. Nov 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment