CardioExchange Archive

September 30th, 2013

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: September 30th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include the RE-ALIGN trial of dabigatran vs. warfarin in patients with mechanical heart valves, general population echo screening and long-term survival, and antihypertensives and breast cancer risk among middle aged women.

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September 1st, 2013

Is It Time to RE-ALIGN Our Thinking About Direct Thrombin Inhibitors?

Judith Andersen, AB, MD

Reflecting on the RE-ALIGN trial of dabigatran, Judith Andersen muses on the mechanisms of direct thrombin inhibitors.

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September 1st, 2013

Disappointing Results with Dabigatran for Mechanical Valves

Larry Husten, PHD

For more of our ESC.13 coverage of late-breaking clinical trials, interviews with the authors of the most important research, and blogs from our fellows on the most interesting presentations at the meeting, check out our Coverage Headquarters. Despite being more durable than bioprosthetic valves, mechanical heart valves are often not chosen because of the requirement for lifelong […]

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December 21st, 2012

Dabigatran Shouldn’t Be Used in Patients with Mechanical Heart Valves

Kristin J. Kelley, CardioExchange Staff

Dabigatran (Pradaxa) should not be prescribed to prevent blood clots or stroke in patients with mechanical heart valves, the FDA warned. The warning follows the termination of a European clinical trial in which patients taking dabigatran had more frequent thromboembolic events than those on warfarin. Dabigatran patients also experienced more bleeding after valve surgery. Patients with mechanical […]

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December 12th, 2012

Boehringer Ends Phase 2 Trial of Dabigatran in Mechanical Valve Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

Boehringer Ingelheim today announced that it had discontinued a phase 2 trial of its anticoagulant drug dabigatran (Pradaxa) in patients with mechanical heart valves. As reported here in October, the company had previously terminated one arm of the study after an interim review of the data by the trial’s Data Safety Monitoring Board. The RE-ALIGN trial was an open-label, 12-week randomized comparison of […]

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