Anticoagulants protect against strokes

Anticoagulants protect against strokes
Anticoagulant drugs for the prevention of strokes. The German Heart Foundation advises patients over the age of 75 who suffer from atrial fibrillation to take long-term anticoagulant medication such as Marcumar or Falithrom.

German Heart Foundation advises risk patients to anticoagulants
Citing the new guidelines of the European Society of Cardiologists, the German Heart Foundation in Frankfurt / Main declares that atrial fibrillation, one of the main causes of strokes, can be significantly reduced by the use of anticoagulant drugs. „Atrial fibrillation causes about 30,000 strokes every year“, said Thomas Meinertz, CEO of the German Heart Foundation opposite the „German Medical Journal“, About half of them are in patients over the age of 75 years. „However, this group of patients with the highest risk of embolism and stroke, which also has the greatest benefit from anticoagulation, still rarely receives the anticoagulant Marcumar“, emphasized Meinertz.

Stroke risk versus bleeding risk
The German Heart Foundation explicitly points out that the risk of strokes and other vascular occlusions and the right choice of anticoagulant treatment depends on the age of the patient and the comorbidities. Thus, patients under the age of 65, who have no cardiovascular disease, do not depend on anticoagulant preparations, since their stroke risk is already very low anyway. In elderly patients at intermediate risk, however, a cardiologist should be consulted to monitor both the risk of stroke and the risks of taking anticoagulant drugs. „The risk of stroke should always be weighed against the risk of bleeding“, explained Meinertz.

Measuring the pulse to assess the risk
People over the age of 65 can determine for themselves which risk group they are to be assigned by regularly measuring their own heart rate. For this, the person concerned should first sit down for five minutes and then use the index and middle finger to measure the pulse on the inside of the forearm, advises the German Heart Foundation. Thus, irregularities of the heartbeat can be detected, which can serve as an indication of a hitherto unnoticed, symptom-free atrial fibrillation of the heart. Atrial fibrillation causes the heart to race at up to 160 beats per minute and causes about 30,000 strokes a year, according to the German Heart Foundation. If, during the autonomous measurement, an irregular or rapid pulse is detected, a doctor should urgently be consulted to determine the causes.

Preparations with side effects
The preventive treatment with anticoagulant drugs, but is also in the risk of patients over the age of 75 years, with known pre-existing disease is not without problems. After all, preparations like Marcumar sometimes have considerable side effects. For example, mild bleeding with hematoma is one of the most common adverse effects of Marcumar treatment. These are harmless in most cases, but can become a serious health risk if patients bleed from the urinary tract or in the stomach. Here it is not enough to stop the medication, but the doctors must immediately take countermeasures in order not to endanger the patient's life. Thus, despite the recommendation of the German Heart Foundation, risk patients should consider carefully whether they want to take permanent anticoagulant drugs such as Marcumar. (fp, 27.10.2010)

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