The ultimate goal in medicine: protect the patient from stroke. Even a heart doctor has to admit the dominance of the human brain. Always think about preventing stroke. It’s one of the worst outcomes that can happen to a person. Life as a ‘normal’ human requires a healthy brain. A stroke irreversibly kills off part […]
Category: Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban
Pradaxa Xarelto Eliquis
As most of you know, I also write a column (Trials and Fibrillations) over at the online Cardiology news site, theHeart.org. My most recent article highlights what I thought were the top news stories in electrophysiology in 2012. There were many. Gosh were there ever. I broke a major rule of writing online articles: It […]
You may find this hard to believe but I really don’t look at my site’s stats much. In fact, just today I discovered that WordPress has a feature that ranks posts by views. I’m not going to give you my Top Ten just by ranking. Rather, I’ll mix in some of my favorites and those […]
Yesterday afternoon, the FDA finally approved apixaban (Eliquis) for the prevention of stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. I use the words ‘finally approved’ because the markedly positive ARISTOTLE trial was published 15 months ago in the New England Journal of Medicine. The long delay was mysterious. On paper, apixaban looks to be the […]
Let’s talk about the new anticoagulants. Two recent studies involving dabigatran (Pradaxa) have shed new light on an important topic for patients with atrial fibrillation: the risk of bleeding versus the risk of stroke. Dabigatran and rivaroxaban (and soon, apixaban) have been approved for the prevention of stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF). […]
There was good news today in the atrial fibrillation world. Though no surprise to heart rhythm doctors, an FDA investigation reveals no evidence that new cases of bleeding are any higher with dabigatran (Pradaxa) than with warfarin. The full statement from the FDA is here. The assessment was undertaken because after approval of the novel […]
There was a lively debate on this topic at ESC 2012. One of the strategies proposed to reduce stroke in AF involves occlusion of the sack-like structure called the left atrial appendage. Two devices are being evaluated and nearing consideration for approval. There is a great deal of debate on these devices. Here is my […]
When you have 15 minutes, I’d recommend heading over to the Private Practice Blog of Dr Seth Bilazarian at theHeart.org. Dr B has beautifully summarized both the clinical and real world factors that go into the difficult decision of which blood thinner to choose for prevention of stroke in patients with AF. Seth has a […]
There was big news this week on the much-anticipated, but yet-to-be-evaluated novel blood thinner, apixaban (Eliquis). The FDA wants more information from the ARISTOTLE trial. They have inquired about “data management and verification.” That sounds serious. I made some comments about apixaban over at Trials and Fibrillations on theHeart.org. Here’s the mystery: Apixaban boasts incredibly […]
The good news: Patients with heart disease have enjoyed great advances in stroke and heart attack prevention in the last few years. The bad news: most of these advances have involved novel new blood-thinning drugs. The idea of blood thinners is quite simple: Heart attacks and strokes most often stem from clotted blood. The same […]
I am grateful that influential physician and social media leader, Dr. Kevin Pho (@KevinMD), re-posted my recent dabigatran comments. As is often the case with these new drugs, a spirited conversation ensued. Head over to KevinMD and take a look at my answers to some valid issues with the drug. Also, there’s a ton of […]