Dabigatran etexilate, a double prodrug of dabigatran, is a reversible, competitive, direct thrombin inhibitor that has been approved for use in many countries. A recent guideline from the European Medicines Agency on drug-drug interactions proposed dabigatran etexilate as a sensitive in vivo and in vitro probe substrate for intestinal P-glycoprotein (P-gp) inhibition. We therefore performed a s...

Dabigatran is a novel oral anticoagulant and may be useful during atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation for prevention of thromboembolic events. However, the benefits and adverse effects of periprocedural dabigatran therapy have not been thoroughly evaluated. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of dabigatran for anticoagulation in AF ablation. PubMed, The Cochrane Libr...

BACKGROUND Dabigatran is one of the three newer oral anticoagulants (OACs) recently approved in the United States for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients. The objective of this study was to identify patient, healthcare provider, and health plan factors associated with dabigatran versus warfarin use among NVAF patients. METHODS Administrative claims data from ...

INTRODUCTION The fast, precise, and accurate measurement of the new generation of oral anticoagulants such as dabigatran and rivaroxaban in patients' plasma my provide important information in different clinical circumstances such as in the case of suspicion of overdose, when patients switch from existing oral anticoagulant, in patients with hepatic or renal impairment, by concomitant use of in...

BACKGROUND Warfarin reduces the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation but increases the risk of hemorrhage and is difficult to use. Dabigatran is a new oral direct thrombin inhibitor. METHODS In this noninferiority trial, we randomly assigned 18,113 patients who had atrial fibrillation and a risk of stroke to receive, in a blinded fashion, fixed doses of dabigatran--110 mg or 15...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Intracranial hemorrhage is the most devastating complication of anticoagulation. Outcomes associated with different sites of intracranial bleeding occurring with warfarin versus dabigatran have not been defined. METHODS Analysis of 18 113 participants with atrial fibrillation in the Randomized Evaluation of Long-term anticoagulant therapY (RE-LY) trial assigned to adjus...

BACKGROUND Patients with mechanical heart valves (MHV) require warfarin to prevent thromboembolism. Although dabigatran was as effective as warfarin for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation when compared with warfarin in patients with MHV, the study was stopped early because of more strokes and bleeding with dabigatran. To determine why dabigatran was less effective than warfarin, we compar...

BACKGROUND The newer oral anticoagulant dabigatran is considered to be more beneficial in patients with non-valvular Atrial Fibrillation (AF) when compared to warfarin. However, because bleeding events which are associated with a low dose (110 mg) versus a high dose (150 mg) of dabigatran have seldom been compared, we aimed to systematically solve this important issue through this meta-analysis...

Aim We tested the hypothesis that left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) interferes with the antithrombotic effects of dabigatran and warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods and results This is a post-hoc analysis of the Randomized Evaluation of Long-term anticoagulation therapY (RE-LY) Study. We defined LVH by electrocardiography (ECG) and included patients with AF on the ECG...

Novel oral anticoagulants (NOAs) which directly inhibit thrombin (dabigatran) or factor Xa (rivaroxaban and apixaban) have recently been developed. We report the first case of perioperative management of a patient treated with dabigatran requiring haemodialysis before emergency surgery. A 62-yr-old woman visited the emergency department for a left bi-malleolar ankle fracture; she had a past med...