Does warfarin therapy have a role in coronary calcification?

Some reports have revealed that warfarin inhibits the matrix carboxyglutamic acid protein (MGP), which inhibits calcification. Treatment of rats with warfarin at doses that inhibit the carboxylation of MGP causes rapid calcification of elastic lamellae of arteries and of aortic heart valves and increased expression of MGP-mRNA in the calcifying artery. Therefore warfarin use might result in increased calcification of vessel wall. Our aim was to investigate whether warfarin causes excess calcification in coronary arteries. A total of 39 patients (with a mean age of 54±15 years) who underwent prosthetic heart valve surgery 66±46 months ago were enrolled into the study. The control subjects (n=28) were selected from those people without any medical problem with a mean age of 52±11 years. Multidetector computed tomography was used to identify the calcium score of the coronary arteries. We found that coronary calcium score was similar between the study and control groups. In addition, the length of warfarin use was not correlated with the calcium score in the patient group. Male gender, hypertension, and LDL-C, but not warfarin usage were independent predictors for coronary calcification. The results of our study imply that warfarin has no effect on coronary calcification at least in middle aged adult humans.