Saturday, September 06, 2008
stroke warfarin
September 4, 2008 — Results of a new study show that among high-risk patients with atrial fibrillation admitted to the hospital for a stroke, the vast majority were either not taking warfarin or were in subtherapeutic ranges at the onset of the stroke. In fact, only 10% of patients admitted with a first ischemic stroke were found to be receiving warfarin and were in a therapeutic range at the time of their stroke.
"These findings should encourage greater efforts to prescribe and monitor appropriate antithrombotic therapy to prevent stroke in individuals with atrial fibrillation," the researchers, with first author David J. Gladstone MD, PhD, from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, conclude.
Their results were released in the August 28 Online First issue and will appear in the January 2009 issue of Stroke.
