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: Therapy

  • Dental Work on Warfarin

    A common question from patients and dentists is whether warfarin needs to be interrupted at times of dental procedures, such as cleaning or pulling of teeth or root canals. Medical publications and recommendations from the dental community outlining best management of patients on warfarin exist (ref 1-6). However, even though evidence suggests that stopping warfarin for…

  • Vitamin E – Caution: Bleeding Risk

    Summary A recent summary of all published good quality trials (randomized, placebo-controlled) shows that taking vitamin E supplements slightly increases a person’s risk for bleeding into the brain (reference 1). My conclusions:  (a) I caution against the use of daily vitamin E supplementation, and (b) I advise against the use of vitamin E in patients who are already…

  • Warfarin therapy made easier

    Background and Summary Patients on warfarin can test their own INR (International Normalized Ratio) at home with small, handheld INR monitors, similar to diabetics checking their own blood sugar. A very large, well conducted study published on Oct 21, 2010 in the New England Journal of Medicine (ref 1) shows that patients can safely and…

  • Pradaxa approval – Great news!

    Summary The new oral “blood thinner” Pradaxa® (=Dabigatran) was approved by the FDA on October 20th, 2010 (ref 1 and 2). This is huge news! This is the first oral blood thinner alternative to warfarin (=Coumadin®, Jantoven®). At this point, Pradaxa® is only FDA approved for use in patients with irregular heart beat (= atrial…