Dabigatran for left ventricular thrombus

Satishkumar Kolekar1, Chandrashekhar Munjewar2, Satyavan Sharma3

  • 1Senior Registrar, Department of Cardiology, Bombay Hospital Institute of Medical Sciences, Bombay Hospital, 12, New Marine Lines, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400 020, India.

Indian Heart Journal
|October 4, 2015
PubMed

Insights

This case study highlights dabigatran

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in the dilated phase presents complex management challenges.
  • Patients often experience multiple hospitalizations due to heart failure, stroke, and arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia.

Observation:

  • A male patient with dilated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy had recurrent hospitalizations and required anticoagulation with warfarin.
  • Warfarin therapy was discontinued due to unstable INR levels, and transthoracic echocardiography revealed a left ventricular thrombus.

Findings:

  • Treatment with dabigatran 110mg twice daily for 4 months resulted in complete resolution of the left ventricular thrombus.
  • No bleeding or embolic events occurred during dabigatran therapy.

Implications:

  • This case suggests potential thrombolytic properties of dabigatran, a direct thrombin inhibitor.
  • Dabigatran may be a viable therapeutic option for resolving left ventricular thrombus in specific patient populations.

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