Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Vitamian K antagonists (OACs) are harmful?

 Can we safeguard coronaries from micro calcification?
As Weijs et al.[1] have described, most patients diagnosed with paroxysmal atrium fibrillation (AF) are currently treated by prescribing life-long use of vtamin K antagonists (VKAs) to prevent thrombo-embolic complications.[2] By applying minimal invasive multislice computed tomography (MSCT) imaging, the authors found a possible adverse treatment effect in patients who were receiving VKAs for relatively longer, showing significant higher levels of calcium in their coronary arteries compared with patients with a shorter time on VKAs. This could have serious consequences for current clinical practice.[2]


 1. Weijs B, Blaauw Y, Rennenberg RJMW, Schurgers LJ et al. Patients using vitamin K antagonists show increased levels of coronary calcification: an observational study in low-risk atrial fibrillation patients. Eur Heart J 2011;32:2555-2562. First published on 20 July 2011. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehr226. 
2. Fuster V, Ryden LE,Cannom DS,Crijns HJ et al.. ACC/AHA/ESC 2006 guidelines for the management of patients with atrial fibrillation—executive summary: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines and the European Society of Cardiology Committee for Practice Guidelines (Writing Committee to Revise the 2001 Guidelines for the Management of Patients with Atrial Fibrillation). Eur Heart J 2006;27:1979-2030.

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