Anticoagulants: These are commonly known as blood thinners, are chemical substances that prevent or reduce coagulation of blood, prolonging the clotting time. Some of them occur naturally in blood-eating animals such as leeches and mosquitoes, where they help keep the bite area unclotted long enough for the animal to obtain some blood. As a class of medications, anticoagulants are used in therapy for thrombotic disorders. Oral anticoagulants (OACs) are taken by many people in pill or tablet form, and various intravenous anticoagulant dosage forms are used in hospitals. Some anticoagulants are used in medical equipment, such as sample tubes, blood transfusion bags, heart-lung machines, and dialysis equipment. One of the first anticoagulants, warfarin, was initially approved as a rodenticide. Anticoagulants are closely related to antiplatelet drugs and thrombolytic drugs by manipulating the various pathways of blood coagulation. Specifically, antiplatelet drugs inhibit platelet aggregation (clumping together), whereas anticoagulants inhibit specific pathways of the coagulation cascade, which happens after the initial platelet aggregation and ultimately leads to formation of fibrin and stable aggregated platelet products. Common anticoagulants include warfarin and heparin.

An anticoagulant is a drug (blood thinner) that treats, prevents, and reduces the risk of blood clots-breaking off and traveling to vital organs of the body, which can lead to life threatening situations. They work by preventing blood from coagulating to form a clot in the vital organs such as the heart, lungs, and brain. It is used to prevent the formation of new blood clots, and to treat existing clots by preventing them from growing larger in size. It also reduces the risk of embolization of blood clots to other vital organs such as the lungs and brain. An anticoagulant medicine is used in patients to prevent blood clots from forming in veins, arteries, the heart, and the brain of a patient. The most common side effect of treatment with anticoagulant medicine is bleeding. Treatment with these products may cause various degrees of bleeding, including fatal bleeds.

This list of adverse effects associated with anticoagulants are compiled from adverse effects listed for various anticoagulants and may not apply to every medicine.

Common side effects include:

• Bleeding
• Abdominal pain
• Flatulence (intestinal gas)
• Headache
• Lethargy
• Dizziness
• Fever
• Local injection site reactions
• Nausea
• Anemia
• Bruises caused by trauma (ecchymosis)
• Diarrhea

Other side effects include:

• Hair loss (alopecia)
• Rash
• Itching (pruritus)
• Changes is sense of taste
• Fainting (syncope)
• Shortness of breath
• Low blood pressure (hypotension)
• Chest pain

Anticoagulation therapy is not recommended for patients with certain diseases or health conditions because they increase the risk of bleeding. Patients who have any of the following health problems or are pregnant shouldn't use this type of therapy.

• Haemophilia or another bleeding disorder
• Are pregnant
• High risk of bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke)
• Cerebral aneurysm
• Dissecting aorta
• Pericarditis
• Pericardial effusion
• Bacterial endocarditis
• Active ulceration
• An active bleed
• Are undergoing surgery

Media Contact:

John Mathews

Journal Manager

Current Trends in Cardiology

Email: cardiologyres@eclinicalsci.com