BACKGROUND Patient self-monitoring (PSM) of oral anticoagulation therapy (OAT) can improve anticoagulant control, but poor uptake and high dropout rates have prompted suggestions that PSM is suitable for only a minority of patients in the UK. AIMS To determine whether PSM could be a viable alternative to regular hospital anticoagulant clinic attendance, if offered from the start of treatment....

Swine flue is a highly contagious acute respiratory disease caused by a subtype of influenza A virus. Herein we present three patients with H1N1 infection complicated with pulmonary thromboembolism. The patients had chest pain and unexplained dyspnea. Imaging studies showed bilateral hilar predominance. Computed tomographic angiography confirmed bilateral thromboembolism (an unusual presentatio...

INTRODUCTION Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major disease associated with short-term and long-term morbidity and mortality. Patients with a VTE provoked by surgery or immobilisation are at low risk of recurrence and do not require long-term anticoagulation; those with a VTE and metastatic cancer are at high risk of recurrence and require lifetime thromboprophylaxis. In those at intermediate ...

parison, at data from an inception cohort, multicentre, Italian study published in 1996 in which about 35% of all the new patients starting anticoagulation and enrolled in the study were aged 70 years or more [1]. In 2006 the proportion of patients aged over 70 years among the almost 800 new patients referred to our outpatient anticoagulation clinic to start warfarin treatment for the first tim...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Risk assessment before anticoagulation is important for effective stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS A study was undertaken in patients with AF to investigate the contribution of clinical and echocardiography (ECHO) criteria to treatment decisions on anticoagulation. Patients were stratified by age and stroke risk; contraindications to anticoagulatio...

There is a limited knowledge about the predictors of anticoagulation control in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). Furthermore, few reports addressed the role of time in therapeutic range (TTR) that could reflect the safety and efficacy of anticoagulation therapy. We aimed to assess factors that affect the quality of anticoagulation therapy utilizing TTR in patients with NVAF...