20% Of the patients anticoagulados are poorly controlled.

-The most commonly used anticoagulants are in Spain acenocoumarol and warfarin in the rest of the world. These blood thinners do not guarantee its effectiveness in all patients that 20% of people taking them suffer a high risk of embolism or hemorrhage

– over the past years is being carried out numerous studies that are focused on achieving a more effective than the acenocoumarol or warfarin anticoagulant. The dabigatran is best known, but new studies that are demonstrating the effectiveness of the apixaban and the rivaroxaban

– a study to more than 18,000 patients, RE-LY, demonstrated that the dabigatran dose of 150 mg and compared with warfarin decreases the risk of strokesystemic embolism, hemorrhagic stroke, vascular mortality and total bleeding

-the study ARISTOTLE, for its part, showed that apixaban compared with warfarin decreases the risk of stroke by 31% by 21% the risk of bleeding and death by 11%. With regard to rivaroxaban, the Rocket study has shown that it can compete with warfarin in preventing stroke, without significantly increasing the number of severe bleeding

-representatives of the Spanish society of Cardiology (SEC) have submitted these developments on the occasion of the Congress of the cardiovascular diseases SEC 2011 began ael last Friday and lasted until Saturday 22 in Maspalomas

The main function of anticoagulant treatment is to make blood more liquid, used to prevent clot formation and thus avoid the risk of stroke. Despite the effectiveness in 80% of cases of current anticoagulant drugs, they presented serious problems of variability, that there is a fixed dose of the drug, but it should conform to each person on the basis of an analytical must practice regularly (every four or five weeks) and requires greater control by the optional.

In addition, its effect can be influenced by changes in the diet of the patient (certain foods that contain high amounts of vitamin K, as dark green leaf, some legumes like chickpeas, vegetables or chocolate can neutralize or enhance the effect), interaction with other medications or a mismatch in the dose, being able to produce a hemorrhage in the event of one higher dose or a significant reduction of the effects the drug, in the case of a lower consumption of the needy, with the consequent risk of stroke or clot formation.

For this reason that various studies to develop a drug to overcome the well-known problems of acenocoumarol, used in Spain, treatment with warfarin, used in the rest of the world are carrying out ”, emphasizes Dr. Julián Villacastín, Secretary general of the SEC. which seems more promising short-term treatment is the dabigatrancurrently marketed for the prevention of the formation of thrombi after orthopedic surgery for knee or hip and is expected to be approved as a treatment for atrial fibrillation by the end of this year ”, explains Dr. Pérez-Villacastín.

One of the studies that confirm the effectiveness of the dabigatran is RE-LY, made more than 18,000 patients and that, in comparison with warfarin and dose of 150 mg, reduces the risk of stroke or systemic embolism (1.69% prevalence in the studied patients who were given warfarin versus the 1.11% of the patients who took dabigatran), hemorrhagic stroke (0.35% warfarin vs. 0.10%), vascular mortality and total hemorrhages (3.36% with warfarin vs. 3.11% vs. dabigtran).

The study found the effectiveness of the dabigatran in dose of 150 mg and 110 mg to warfarin. The results showed that the dabigatran is the first oral anticoagulant that has proven to be better that warfarin, that at higher doses it turns out to be more effective, with similar bleeding rates, and lower doses, causes less bleeding than warfarin and is equally effective in preventing thromboembolic events ”, concludes Dr. Villacastín.

There are other studies showing the effectiveness of other blood-thinning treatments, it is the case of ARISTOTLE study 18,200 patients and which demonstrates that the apixaban compared with warfarin decreases the risk of stroke by 31% by 21% the risk of bleeding and death by 11%.

Study Rocket, for its part, the study Rocket has shown that it can compete with warfarin in preventing stroke, without significantly increasing the number of severe bleeding.

Studies of this type show the anticoagulant treatments currently used to have their days numbered, since emerging new treatments that result in less control by the optional, and greater comfort and quality of life for the patient ”, concludes Dr..