1,721,002 research outputs found
Current anticoagulant safety
No full textCurrently used anticoagulants such as unfractionated heparin, low-molecular-weight heparin and vitamin K antagonists, have several drawbacks, mostly related to safety. In this review, we will briefly discuss and compare the safety of anticoagulation therapy with 'old' and new agents. AREAS COVERED: Safety issues with anticoagulation therapy are mostly related to bleeding. The intensity of anticoagulation is related to the risk of bleeding and thus, for the efficacy not to be affected, must be maintained at the lower effective intensity. Several improvements have been made in the management of anticoagulation therapy; these include monitoring, pathology-based treatment schemes taking into account patient characteristics, patient education and the introduction of anticoagulation centers. Safety of novel anticoagulants is encouraging. EXPERT OPINION: Novel agents have the potential to compete with existing therapy for thromboprophylaxis, treatment and stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. Promising results have emerged from trials comparing them with existing treatment. Not long from now we will see these new agents in the armamentarium of antithrombotic drugs
Emerging anticoagulants
No full textThromboembolic disease encompasses a spectrum of conditions extending from deep vein thrombosis to stroke and myocardial infarction. The current anticoagulation therapy is cumbersome and characterized by several important drawbacks. AREAS COVERED: Existing treatments and latest breakthroughs on emerging anticoagulants are presented. Oral and parenteral novel anticoagulants are being developed and tested for efficacy and safety and results are being published regularly. The introduction of novel anticoagulants marks a new era in the management of anticoagulated patients. It is important for the healthcare provider to understand the benefits and risks of the armamentarium of anticoagulants that will be available in the very near future. The critical conclusions drawn will help the reader look past what is the most highlighted feature of the new anticoagulantion era: the non-necessity for monitoring. EXPERT OPINION: Currently, novel anticoagulants seem to lack the indefinable 'charm' of weakness. However, important questions remain unanswered and will require in-depth evaluations
Cancer prevention and vitamin K antagonists: An overview
No full textThe relation of cancer to thromboembolism has been described since the mid 1800s. Different studies in animal and in vitro models have confirmed the link between the haemostatic system and both tumor stroma formation and metastasis. Although the mechanisms of warfarin effects on cancer are not elucidated, but are based on hypothesis, various studies have reported interesting results in this setting. But does warfarin added to recommended anti-tumour therapy improve survival of cancer patients? For the time being it is difficult to answer this question. Data from the literature are few and sometimes contradictory. Trials are characterized by important differences in studied cohorts, histological types of cancers evaluated, and in the treatment protocols. Most studies show that there is benefit from the addition of warfarin to chemotherapy in the tumour development, expansion and on the patient survival, especially in particular types of cancers. These data, although fascinating, do not rationalize the use of anticoagulation in the routine prophylaxis of cancer, however, they call for efforts in preparing large scale randomized trials to elucidate the effect of anticoagulation in the setting of neoplastic disease
A standardized bridging regimen for the peri-procedural management of high risk patients with mechanical heart valves
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An oral vitamin K protocol to reverse over-anticoagulation in patients presenting with an International Normalised Ratio above 10.0
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Antiphospholipid syndrome: critical analysis of the diagnostic path
No full textAntiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is diagnosed in the presence of vascular thrombosis or pregnancy morbidity occurring in patients with circulating antiphospholipid antibodies (lupus anticoagulant [LA] and/or IgG/IgM anticardiolipin [aCL] and/or IgG/IgM anti-beta2glycoprotein I [abeta2GPI] antibodies). Each test may identify different autoantibodies; a single test makes the diagnosis possible when positive on two or more occasions at least 12 weeks apart. However, single test positivity may be unrelated to pathogenic antibodies, which are now considered to be a subclass of abeta2GPI antibodies directed against the domain I of this protein. Conversely, all three positive tests identify a single class of abeta2GPI antibodies, thus identifying high-risk patients with APS
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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