Stroke thrombolysis in patients taking dabigatran

Stroke thrombolysis is becoming a common practice in Australian and New Zealand hospitals. There are no established guidelines for thrombolysis of patients who are taking dabigatran, and accurate medication reconciliation may not be possible. Patients with normal activated partial thromboplastin time are unlikely to have clinically significant dabigatran concentration in the blood. For safest outcomes, we suggest incorporating thrombin time assay for acute stroke patients suspected to be taking dabigatran.     

Treatment of visceral leishmaniasis: a review of current treatment practices

Introduction: In the Randomized Evaluation of Long-term Anticoagulant Therapy (RE-LY) trial, dabigatran 150 mg was shown to be superior to warfarin for the prevention of stroke or systemic embolism. However, there are some concerns with the RE-LY trial, such as its open-label design, potential unblinding of “blinded” adjudicators, the use of concomitant warfarin–aspirin (ASA), the disparity between baseline use of nonselective NSAIDs; the high unequal rate of drop-outs; unaccounted drop-ins; high rates of major bleeds in warfarin-treated patients, despite being a low risk population; and rates of major bleeds that do not match historic warfarin trials. Furthermore, although dabigatran offers potential advantages versus warfarin, there are disadvantages that must be taken into consideration before a patient is switched from the latter to the former. This review will summarize the flaws of the RE-LY trial as well as the clinically important advantages and disadvantages of dabigatran and warfarin.

Areas covered: This review examines the differences between dabigatran and warfarin in terms of side effects, drug–drug interactions, drug–food interactions, and potential reasons for using one anticoagulant rather than the other. The main focus of this review is a discussion of the design, procedures and results of the RE-LY trial.

Expert opinion: There seem to be major flaws with the RE-LY trial. A double-blinded trial should be performed testing dabigatran against warfarin to verify the results of the RE-LY trial.     

The Cheno Cooperative Study: Its Meaning for Gallstone Treatment

Abstract

Novel oral anticoagulants (OACs), including dabigatran etexilate, rivaroxaban, and apixaban, are available alternative anticoagulant therapy to vitamin K antagonists. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved dabigatran, rivaroxaban, and apixaban for the treatment of appropriate patients for specific clinical indications. Therapeutic advantages of prescribing the new OACs are related to their predictable pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. Dabigatran, rivaroxaban, and apixaban have all been shown to be noninferior to warfarin treatment for stroke prevention in respective phase 3 clinical trials; dabigatran and apixaban were shown to be superior to warfarin as preventive therapy. Dabigatran, rivaroxaban, and apixaban are all approved agents for stroke prevention in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation in the United States and Europe. Among these agents, rivaroxaban is the only FDA-approved drug for the treatment of venous thromboembolism. This article reviews the major clinical trials that investigated the efficacy and safety of the new OACs and the use of these agents in special clinical situations.     

达比加群对凝血酶诱导的人气道平滑肌细胞收缩和增殖的影响

目的 探讨这比加群对凝血酶诱导的人气道平滑肌(HASM)细胞收缩和增殖的影响.方法 将原代培养的HASM细胞用于实验.用免疫荧光的方法观察细胞收缩的形态学变化;用Western blot法分析α-actin蛋白相对表达量;用cck8法检测平滑肌细胞增殖能力.结果 达比加群能显著抑制凝血酶诱导的HASM细胞骨架重组和收缩蛋白α-actin的表达(P＜0.05).对血管紧张素Ⅱ(AngⅡ)、转化生长因子-β1、血小板源性生长因子、乙酰甲胆碱、凝血酶的促增殖能力进行比较,凝血酶显著强于AngⅡ,仅次于10％胎牛血清(P＜0.05).达比加群呈浓度依赖性和时间依赖性地抑制了凝血酶诱导的HASM细胞增殖(P＜0.05).结论 达比加群能够显著抑制凝血酶诱导的HASM细胞收缩和增殖.