Anticoagulants

RPS endorses community pharmacy oral anticoagulant safety audit

A new community pharmacy oral anticoagulant safety audit, developed by the NHS’s Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS), has been endorsed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.…

Idarucizumab rapidly reverses dabigatran anticoagulation

Researchers find that idarucizumab effectively counteracts the workings of anticoagulant dabigatran in emergency situations.…

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia

Heparin is widely used for thromboprophylaxis or as a treatment in many clinical situations, however, it can cause serious adverse effects. Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), an immune-mediated adverse drug reaction, is associated with high morbidity and mortality if undiagn…

Adjusting the dose of aspirin may reduce bleeding risk

Aspirin is a potent drug that is still widely prescribed since the days of Hippocrates in its willow bark tea form. Recently, it has been reported that older people are at high risk of gastric bleeds when taking low dose aspirin ( The Pharmaceutical Journal 2017;298:327). Perhaps this is…

Experience of setting up and running a referral scheme from the secondary care anticoagulant clinic to community pharmacies in Swindon

The new medicines service (NMS) is an advanced service in the community pharmacy contractual framework. It consists of community pharmacist structured interviews with patients during their first month of treatment with a new medicine. The service aims to improve medicines concordance and improve pat…

Row breaks out on whether GP practices should be funded for warfarin monitoring

Cash-strapped clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are increasingly pushing GP practices to prescribe and monitor specialist drugs that are outside their area of expertise, without paying for the extra work. …

Delaying anticoagulation treatment for atrial fibrillation increases dementia risk, study suggests

Results reinforce the importance of starting anticoagulation treatment as soon as possible after diagnosis, researchers conclude.…

Intracranial haemorrhage risk of warfarin unrelated to INR control

Study results show that choosing apixaban over warfarin could reduce the risk of anticoagulation-related intracranial haemorrhage.…

Dagibatran carries reduced fracture risk compared with warfarin

Among patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, study data show the use of dabigatran rather than warfarin was associated with a lower risk of osteoporotic fracture.…

Genotype-guided dosing improves safety of warfarin

Older adults who received a genotype-guided dose of warfarin via a web application were less likely to experience adverse effects compared with clinical dosing, trial results show.…