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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Fully Endoscopic Mitral Valve Repair with Percutaneous Cannulation of Groin Vessels
Published on: May 26, 2023
[Clinical study of anticoagulation with warfarin and heparin in patients after mechanical valve replacement]
Xiang-jun Liu1, Qing-yu Wu, Hong-yin Li
1Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, First Hospital of Tsinghua University, Beijing 100016, China. xiangjunliu@sina.com
Objective:
To investigate the effect of different methods of anticoagulation after mechanical valve replacement.
Methods:
Totally 172 cases of mechanical valve replacement performed from October 2005 to June 2008 were divided into two groups and then analyzed retrospectively. Patients on warfarin and heparin were classified as the heparin group while those on warfarin alone were classified as the warfarin group. The operation, anticoagulation, anticoagulation index and associated complications were recorded to compare the effect of anticoagulation between two groups.
Results:
warfarin group: the overall anticoagulation effect was satisfactory except for cerebral embolism (n=1, 1.1%) and lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage (n=1, 1.1%) during hospitalization. Heparin group: no anticoagulation-related complication was found. The time to reach stable warfarin anticoagulation was shorter than the warfarin group and difference was of significance (8 d±3 d vs 11 d±4 d, P<0.01). After adjustment of potential confounding factors such as age, gender, weight by linear regression analysis, the result showed that, the time to reach stable warfarin anticoagulation was shortened than the warfarin group by 2.11 days. Statistical significance of difference was observed between two groups (P<0.01).
Conclusion:
It is both safe and effective to anticoagulated the patients after mechanical valve replacement with warfarin and heparin.
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