Document Detail


Enoxaparin monotherapy without oral anticoagulation to treat acute symptomatic pulmonary embolism.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  12783106     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Conventional anticoagulation for symptomatic pulmonary embolism consists of continuous intravenous unfractionated heparin as a "bridge" to oral anticoagulation. This strategy requires 5 days or more of intravenous heparin while oral vitamin K antagonists gradually achieve a therapeutic effect. Oral vitamin K antagonists require frequent blood testing to optimize dosing, and their interactions with other medications and foods make regulation difficult. Therefore we tested a different approach to therapy: long-term enoxaparin monotherapy. We randomized 60 symptomatic pulmonary embolism patients in a 2:1 ratio to 90 days of enoxaparin as monotherapy without warfarin (N=40) or to intravenous unfractionated heparin as a "bridge" to warfarin, target INR 2.0-3.0 (N=20). Enoxaparin patients received 1 mg/kg twice daily for 14 days during the acute phase followed by randomized assignment during the chronic phase to 1.0 mg/kg vs. 1.5 mg/kg once daily. In an intention-to-treat analysis, 3 of the 40 enoxaparin patients developed recurrent venous thromboembolism compared with 0 of 20 standard therapy patients (p = 0.54). One of the 40 enoxaparin patients had a major hemorrhagic complication compared with 2 of the 20 standard therapy patients (p = 0.26). Median hospital length of stay was shorter with enoxaparin compared to standard therapy (4 vs. 6 days) (p = 0.001). Following our study we can conclude that extended 3-month treatment with enoxaparin as monotherapy for symptomatic, acute pulmonary embolism is feasible and warrants further study in a large clinical trial.
Authors:
Joshua A Beckman; Kelly Dunn; Arthur A Sasahara; Samuel Z Goldhaber
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Thrombosis and haemostasis     Volume:  89     ISSN:  0340-6245     ISO Abbreviation:  Thromb. Haemost.     Publication Date:  2003 Jun 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2003-06-03     Completed Date:  2004-03-24     Revised Date:  2007-11-14    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7608063     Medline TA:  Thromb Haemost     Country:  Germany    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  953-8     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. sgoldhaber@partners.org
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Acute Disease
Adult
Aged
Enoxaparin / administration & dosage*,  toxicity
Feasibility Studies
Female
Hemorrhage / chemically induced
Heparin / administration & dosage
Humans
Length of Stay
Male
Middle Aged
Pulmonary Embolism / complications,  drug therapy*
Recurrence / prevention & control
Venous Thrombosis / prevention & control
Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / chemically induced
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
K23 HL-04169/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Enoxaparin; 9005-49-6/Heparin

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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