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Warfarin versus dabigatran: comparing the old with the new

Mary Elizabeth Abraham1, Todd R Marcy

  • 1University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy, Oklahoma City, OK, USA.

The Consultant Pharmacist : the Journal of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists
|February 15, 2012
PubMed

Warfarin is an oral anticoagulant for treatment and prevention of venous and arterial thromboembolism. It requires regular monitoring and patient adherence to a variety of lifestyle factors that can influence its effect. Dabigatran is an oral direct thrombin-inhibitor recently approved for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. The primary advantages of dabigatran are freedom from monitoring, a short duration of action, and a limited number of factors influencing its effect. Primary disadvantages of dabigatran compared with warfarin are that less is known about its use, cost, and poor gastrointestinal tolerability. Clinical studies have revealed both agents to be effective, with comparable rates for major bleeding. Divergent recommendations have been offered by consensus guidelines. A patient-specific approach involving the perspectives of informed patients is most reasonable.

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