There is a lot of big news coming out of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) going on in Barcelona right now. Judging by attendance, this is probably the biggest cardiology event in the world.
The big announcement for atrial fibrillation sufferers is the progress towards a replacement for Coumadin (warfarin) coming out of the results of the Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulant Therapy trial, known as the RE-LY trial.
Trial results showed that dabigatran, a potential Coumadin® replacement that is marketed under the brand name of Pradaxa outside the U.S., is more effective than warfarin at preventing strokes from clotting (ischemic stroke) and bleeding (hemorrhagic stroke).
This is great news for those with atrial fibrillation who are on warfarin as it is so difficult and time-consuming to manage that most who are on it are only in the therapeutic range (INR between 2.0 and 3.0) two-thirds of the time.
Also of interest is the new Stroke Prevention channel on You Tube that Boehringer Ingelheim, the manufacturer of dabigatran, launched in conjunction with the release of the study findings.
Read more and get the link to some stroke prevention videos at: Dabigatran Better than Warfarin for Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation
Leave a Reply