Coumadin, Warfarin News

DEAR DR. GOTT: I have had a problem with severe constipation for many years. I have taken different laxatives and have been on milk of magnesia for a long time.

Skin cancers can occur at almost any time during a person's life, but is there a difference between treating a young adult versus an older person? According to one expert, whether caring for skin cancers in elderly patients or young patients, the medical procedures used to treat them are essentially the same.

Many elderly patients who take numerous medications, including anticoagulants such as Plavix , Coumadin or aspirin, experience pre-, peri- and post-op surgical bruising.

Q: I am a 78-year-old female. Eight months ago, I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure.

Identify possible symptoms sooner than later. Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil have conclusively been shown to reduce risk for heart attack and stroke.

Whenever two or more drugs are being taken, there is a chance that there will be an interaction among the drugs.

Elizabeth C. Kudzma DNSc, MPH, WHNP-BC Eileen T. Carey BS, RN AJN, American Journal of Nursing October 2009 Volume 109 Number 10 Pages 50 - 57 OVERVIEW Pharmacogenomics is a rapidly growing field of research into the ways in which genetic variation affects drug response.

Identify possible symptoms sooner than later. Blood clots are the dreaded complication of the abnormal heart rhythm aka, Atrial Fibrillation.

In an article reviewed by F1000 Medicine Faculty Members Robert Ruff, Brian Olshansky and Luis Ruilope, the blood-thinner dabigatran is shown to protect against stroke, blood clotting and major bleeding as effectively as warfarin, but with fewer side effects.

From the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, Wynnewood, Pa . Correspondence to Michael D. Ezekowitz, MBChB, DPhil, FACC, Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, 100 Lancaster Ave, Wynnewood, PA 19096.

As a professor of medicine, Ben Littenberg spent years studying the quality of health care in a conventional academic way - doing research and publishing the results.

MARION - Because Marion General Hospital takes the issue of safety very seriously, an award was developed to honor employees who have taken safety to heart and helped to move the hospital forward to an even greater degree of safety awareness, states a press release.

Identify possible symptoms sooner than later. People who suffer with Atrial Fibrillation ask this question very, very frequently.

Aug 31, 2009 - Researchers today published promising results for a drug that could lead to a replacement for the very effective but difficult-to-use blood thinner Coumadin , taken by millions of Americans to reduce their risk of stroke.

Boehringer Ingelheim has presented "groundbreaking results" from a huge late-stage study which show that its oral anticoagulant Pradaxa significantly reduced the risk of stroke compared with warfarin, without raising the risk of bleeding.

WYNNEWOOD, PA.; August 31, 2009 -- For decades, Coumadin, sold generically, as warfarin, has been one of the most widely used drugs in the U.S. It is used by millions of patients across the country after heart attacks and strokes, to keep their blood moving freely.

A Lankenau cardiologist served as a lead U.S. researcher for a major study of a new drug - a blood thinner for people at risk for stroke - being developed by German pharmaceutical maker Boehringer Ingelheim.

Two new blood thinners are better at preventing clots, heart attacks, strokes and death than two widely used drugs, Plavix and warfarin, researchers reported today at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

A study presented today at the European Society of Cardiology meetings in Barcelona concluded that a new anticoagulant drug - dabigatran - appears at least as effective and as least as safe as Coumadin in preventing stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation .

Patients at risk of stroke due to an erratic heartbeat should soon have a viable alternative to 50-year-old warfarin, after a new pill from Boehringer Ingelheim beat expectations in a major clinical study.