Long-term warfarin treatment may induce arterial calcification in humans: case report

PURPOSE: To report a case of arterial calcification in a person who has had long-term treatment with warfarin. Although the anticoagulant has been shown to induce arterial calcification in laboratory animals, there have been no previous reports implicating warfarin as a clinical factor. CLINICAL FEATURES: On routine annual examination, the coronary arteries of a healthy man with no symptoms who has had long-term warfarin treatment were found to be highly calcified. CONCLUSION: It would be prudent to further evaluate experimentally the relationship of warfarin and arterial calcification. We suggest that physicians prescribing long-term warfarin treatment consider arterial calcification as one of its potential consequences.