title: [Present and future of oral anticoagulants].
abstract: The number of patients under oral anticoagulant therapy has markedly increased lately, mainly due to those with chronic atrial fibrillation. Progress has been made in the control of oral anticoagulation because sensitive and calibrated commercial reagents for prothrombin time have become available. But bleeding is still a problem in these patients. In our experience, the intensity and the duration of the anticoagulant therapy are the most important risk factors for bleeding. The deviation of INR (International Normalized Ratio) can also be associated with higher risk for bleeding. The limitations of oral anticoagulant therapy include frequent laboratory controls for dose adjustment, drug interactions, narrow therapeutic range and the high variability in patient response. These limitations prompted the development of new antithrombotic agents. A number of low molecular weight active site inhibitors of thrombin are being developed and one of them is orally bioavailable, and could become an alternative to vitamin K antagonists.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Hemostasia y Trombosis, Academia Nacional de Medicina, Buenos Aires. IIHEMA@roche.com.ar
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Meschengieser
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Casais
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sánchez Luceros
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lazzari
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D019934:International Normalized Ratio; D011517:Prothrombin Time; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants