Experimental clot inhibitors match conventional drugs.Two new drugs--one in pill form and another requiring only a single weekly injection--prevent dangerous blood clots Blood Clots Definition A blood clot is a thickened mass in the blood formed by tiny substances called platelets. Clots form to stop bleeding, such as at the site of cut. in leg veins just as well as do standard treatments that require daily shots, two European research teams report. In one study, scientists in Sweden focused on people who were undergoing knee-replacement surgery, a group at high risk of developing clots. The researchers gave 1,029 of the patients an experimental oral drug called dabigatran etexilate a few hours after surgery and then daily for at least a week. Another group of 512 patients received a standard treatment, enoxaparin (Lovenox)--a derivative of the blood thinner blood thinner n. A drug used to prevent the formation of blood clots. blood thinner Vox populi Anticoagulant, see there heparin--by daily injection for a week, starting 12 hours before surgery. Slightly more than one-third of the patients in each group developed a severe leg clot called deep-vein thrombosis deep-vein thrombosis Noun a blood clot in one of the major veins, usually in the legs or pelvis deep-vein thrombosis n → trombosi f inv venosa profonda during the 8 days after surgery, reports physician Bengt I. Eriksson of the University Hospital Sahlgrenska/Ostra in Gothenburg. Knee-replacement patients who don't get an anticoagulant anticoagulant (ăn'tēkōăg`yələnt), any of several substances that inhibit blood clot formation (see blood clotting). face a 60 to 80 percent chance of developing such a clot. "This is a new anticoagulant that provides safe and reliable protection, with convenience," Eriksson says. In another study, researchers in the Netherlands identified 2,904 people who had already experienced deep-vein thrombosis. These patients risk a recurrence even if they've received treatment to dissolve the clot and have taken anticoagulant drugs for weeks or months. The researchers randomly assigned half the patients to receive a single weekly injection of a new drug called idaparinux. The others got a standard treatment that included heparin heparin (hĕp`ərĭn), anticoagulant produced by cells in many animals. A polysaccharide, heparin is found in the human body and occurs in greatest concentration in the tissues surrounding the capillaries of the lungs and the liver. shots at least five times a week and a drug that suppresses vitamin K vitamin K Any of several fat-soluble compounds essential for the clotting of blood. A deficiency of vitamin K in the body leads to an increase in clotting time. In 1929 a previously unrecognized fat-soluble substance present in green leafy vegetables was found to be required . The regimens worked equally well. Six months after their initial clots were diagnosed, only 3 percent of patients in either group had clots return. Anticoagulants Anticoagulants Drugs that suppress, delay, or prevent blood clots. Anticoagulants are used to treat embolisms. Mentioned in: Embolism, Heart Valve Replacement can hike abnormal bleeding, and 8 percent of each group reported bleeding. Indaparinux may ease the burden of treatment, says study coauthor Harry R. Buller, a physician at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam.--N.S. |
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