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Oldest Case of Heart Patients May Benefit Most From Warfarin
Older patients who have had a prior history of stroke will benefit by the use of wafarin for treating artrial fibrillation, which happens to be a common disorder of the heart rhythm, according to a new study.
The drug is also of benefit to patients who suffer from multiple risk factors for stroke according to researchers belonging to Kaiser Permanente and Massachusetts General Hospital.
What is artrial fibrillation?
This occurs when the upper chamber of the heart quiver instead of contracting. More than 2 million Americans are affected. The disturbance can cause blood clot formations that travel to the brain and will block an artery. Artrial fibrillation is a risk factor for strokes.
What do researchers have to say?
Researchers are of the view that warfarin can prevent strokes. At the same time the treatment is rather difficult and often leads hemorrhage. According to a press release issued by the Massachusetts General Hospital warfarin is linked up with the “emergency admission of drug-related adverse reactions.”
According to senior author of the study Dr. Alan S. Go, who is the director of the Clinical Research Unit at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, it is essential to balance the benefits of the warfarin against its severe risks which happens to be the best therapeutic decision for treating artrial fibrillation.
The details of the study appear in the September 1st issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.
As part of the research, the researchers followed about 13,600 adults with artrial fibrillation who were treated within Kaiser Permanente of Northern California from 1996 to 2003.
The researchers also analyzed the rates of the most significant events that are adverse and are associated with warfarin therapy such as ischemic stroke, the type which produced by the arterial blockage as well as intracarnial hemorrhage, bleeding around and within the brain.
Source: nlm.nih.gov
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