A Clearinghouse for Information about Blood Clots (DVT/)PE) and Clotting Disorders (thrombophilia) provided as a public service by the University of North Carolina Blood Research Center

Category: Blood thinners (anticoagulants)

  • International Coagulation Meeting (ISTH 2013): Highlights

    Stephan Moll, MD writes…  A major international coagulation conference, the bi-annual meeting of the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH; http://www.isth.org), took place in Amsterdam, Holland, from June 29th to July 4th, 2013.  The clinically relevant highlights about thrombosis and anticoagulation are summarized below.

  • FDA Approval of New Drug to Treat Major Bleeding on Warfarin – Kcentra

    Stephan Moll, MD writes…  A new drug for the urgent reversal of warfarin was approved by the FDA today, April 29th, 2013 (announcement by the FDA is here), called Kcentra.  The drug is derived from pooled plasma from healthy blood donors and contains the coagulation factors that are low in warfarin-treated patients, i.e. factors II, VII,…

  • Warfarin Failure

    Stephan Moll, MD writes… Occasionally, recurrent DVT or PE occur in spite of warfarin therapy, particularly in patients with (a) fluctuating and sub-therapeutic INRs, (b) lupus anticoagulant/ antiphospholipid antibody (APLA) syndrome or (c) cancer.

  • Top 10 Publications on Thrombosis and Anticoagulation from 2012

    Stephan Moll writes… 2012 has been a year with significant progress in the field of venous thromboembolism and anticoagulation.  The three most noteworthy, clinically relevant developments were probably (a) the publication of the new ACCP (American College of Chest Physician) guidelines on antithrombotic therapy in February 2012; (b)  The FDA-approval of rivaroxaban (Xarelto) in November 2012 for the acute…

  • Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) – Hospital Guideline

    Stephan Moll, MD writes… Xarelto® is FDA approved for treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE), prevention of VTE after hip and knee replacement  surgery, and for atrial fibrillation.   A number of practical management questions are encountered by physicians, pharmacists, and other health care professional taking care of patients on Xarelto®, such as (a) dosing in…

  • Does Aspirin Prevent Recurrent DVT and PE? – ASPIRE Trial

    Stephan Moll, MD writes… Well, it is not clear whether it does.  A clinically relevant study (ASPIRE study) was published this week (Nov 22nd,2012) in the N Engl J Med  [ref 1].  In patients who had a previous unprovoked (= idiopathic) DVT or PE and who had completed standard length (often considered to be 3-6 months)…

  • Xarelto (Rivaroxaban): FDA Approved for DVT and PE Treatment

    Stephan Moll, MD writes… Today is a very exciting day for patients and health care professionals: the oral anticoagulant Xarelto® (rivaroxaban) was FDA approved today (Nov 2nd, 2012) for the use in patients with DVT and PE – for the acute treatment of DVT and PE, as well as for the secondary long-term prevention of…

  • Rivaroxaban (Xarelto) and PE

    Stephan Moll, MD writes… Good news: The large phase 3 clinical trial comparing 3-12 months treatment of Rivaroxaban (Xarelto) with warfarin in patients with newly diagnosed pulmonary embolism was published on 3-26-2012 in the New England Journal of Medicine [reference 1], showing that Rivaroxaban was (a) noninferior to warfarin in its efficacy, (b) caused the…