title: Stroke thrombolysis in patients taking dabigatran.
abstract: Stroke thrombolysis is becoming a common practice in Australian and New Zealand hospitals. There are no established guidelines for thrombolysis of patients who are taking dabigatran, and accurate medication reconciliation may not be possible. Patients with normal activated partial thromboplastin time are unlikely to have clinically significant dabigatran concentration in the blood. For safest outcomes, we suggest incorporating thrombin time assay for acute stroke patients suspected to be taking dabigatran.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Hutt Valley Hospital, Lower Hutt, New Zealand. sisira.jayathissa@huttvalleydhb.org.nz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jayathissa
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gommans
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Harper
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000991:Antithrombins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001562:Benzimidazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000069604:Dabigatran; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013918:Thrombin Time / Q000379:methods; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D015091:beta-Alanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000991:Antithrombins; D001562:Benzimidazoles; D015091:beta-Alanine; D000069604:Dabigatran
keywords: atrial fibrillation; dabigatran; stroke; thrombin time; thrombolytic therapy