Most Don ' t Need ' Bridging ' When They Stop Warfarin Temporarily

In this study, Ortel ' s team randomly assigned patients to take either heparin or an inactive placebo during that time window. < /span > < br / > < span style= " color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; " > < br / > < /span > < span style= " color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; " > In the end, heparin showed no effect on blood-clot risk. Just 0.3 percent of treated patients developed a clot within a month of their procedure, versus 0.4 percent of patients given the placebo, the study found. < /span > < br / > < span style= " color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; " > < br / > < /span > < span style= " color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; " > On the other hand, heparin did boost the odds of serious bleeding. Just over 3 percent of patients developed " major " bleeding, compared with just over 1 percent of placebo patients, the study found. < /span > < br / > < span style= " color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; " > < br / > < /span > < span style= " color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; " > The findings suggest that bridging is unnecessary for most atrial fibrillation patients, Ortel said, but there are some who still might benefit. < /span > < br / > < span style= " color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; " > < br / > < /span > < span style= " color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; " > Tafur agreed. He said that patients who are at particularly high risk of a blood clot -- such as tho...

Source: Medical Hemostat - August 26, 2015 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: hemostatguy at gmail.com (hemostat guy) Source Type: blogs