Long-term vs Short-term Therapy With Vitamin K Antagonists for Symptomatic Venous Thromboembolism

JAMA ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 314 (1) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saskia Middeldorp ◽  
Barbara A. Hutten
2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (04) ◽  
pp. 881-890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nic J. G. M. Veeger ◽  
Nakisa Khorsand ◽  
Hanneke C. Kluin-Nelemans ◽  
Hilde A. M. Kooistra ◽  
Karina Meijer ◽  
...  

SummaryVitamin K antagonists (VKA) are widely used in atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism (VTE). Their efficacy and safety depend on individual time in the therapeutic range (iTTR). Due to the variable dose-response relationship within patients, also patients with initially stable VKA treatment may develop extreme overanticoagulation (EO). EO is associated with an immediate bleeding risk, but it is unknown whether VKA treatment will subsequently restabilise. We evaluated long-term quality of VKA treatment and clinical outcome after EO. EO was defined as international normalized ratio (INR) ≥ 8.0 and/or unscheduled vitamin K supplementation. We included a consecutive cohort of initially stable atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism patients. In EO patients, the 90 days pre- and post-period were compared. In addition, patients with EO were compared with patients without EO using a matched 1:2 cohort. Of 14,777 initially stable patients, 800 patients developed EO. The pre-period was characterised by frequent overanticoagulation, and half of EO patients had an inadequate iTTR (< 65 %). After EO, underanticoagulation became more prevalent. Although the mean time between INR-measurements decreased from 18.6 to 13.2 days, after EO inadequate iTTR became more frequent (62 %), p-value < 0.001. A 2.3 times (95 % confidence interval [CI] 2.0–2.5) higher risk for iTTR< 65 % after EO, was accompanied by increased risk of bleeding (hazard ratio [HR] 2.1;CI 1.4–3.2), VKA-related death 17.0 (HR 17.0;CI 2.1–138) and thrombosis (HR 5.7;CI 1.5–22.2), compared to the 1600 controls. In conclusion, patients continuing VKA after EO have long-lasting inferior quality of VKA treatment despite intensified INR-monitoring, and an increased risk of bleeding, thrombosis and VKA-related death.Note: There have been no previous presentations, reports or publications of the complete data that appear in the article. Parts of the data in this article have been presented as a poster at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) congress 2013, New Orleans, United States.


1978 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-295
Author(s):  
O. T. Stanley

This review attempts to deal with the complex issues involved in the time to heal, with special reference to psychological processes. The questions of convalescence and relapse in organic medicine are explored and extrapolated to psychiatric processes. The concept of a latency period of change in treatment outcome is discussed with reference to both less complicated reactive states as well as highly charged neurotic processes. The problems of recognizing slow but perceptible change and separating it from failure to respond is analysed. The value of long-term psychotherapy is assessed and comparison made with the newer concept of short-term therapy. Crisis therapy and disaster reactions are discussed within the concept of time to heal. Finally the difficult issue of “miraculous cure” with its therapeutic implications is evaluated.


2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (suppl a) ◽  
pp. 6A-10A
Author(s):  
Laurent Delorme ◽  
Charles Frenette ◽  
Isabelle Le Corre ◽  
Julie Duchesne ◽  
Carole Delorme ◽  
...  

From January 1, 1996 to December 31, 1996, 343 patients received outpatient intravenous antibiotic therapy at Charles LeMoyne Hospital, a 436-bed, acute care hospital in Greenfield Park, south of Montréal, Québec. The infectious diseases department saved 2660 bed-days using outpatient therapy. The mean duration of outpatient therapy was 7.76 days; 81.6% of patients were admitted to the program directly from the emergency room, or outpatient hospital clinics or private offices in the community. Hospitalized patients constituted only 18.4% of admissions to the outpatient intravenous antibiotic therapy program. Forty per cent of the surgical/medical staff participated in the program and they were able to generate a significant impact by diverting patients to outpatient therapy. Two types of patients can benefit from an outpatient intravenous antibiotic therapy program. One group of patients needs empirical short term therapy and can be switched to oral sequential therapy after two to five days of outpatient intravenous antibiotic therapy. A second group of patients needs specific long term therapy for the full duration of the antibiotic therapy. Empirical short term therapy can be managed by emergency department or hospital-based primary physicians, or medical/surgical specialists. Specific long term therapy can be managed by microbiology/infectious disease specialists or medical/surgical specialists. Hospitals that want to relieve pressure on emergency rooms and hospital bed demands should create facilities for both types of patients. Cefazolin and gentamicine/tobramycine were the most commonly used antibiotics in empirical short term therapy and in terms of number of patients treated. Ceftriaxone and vancomycin were most commonly used for long term therapy. The Drug acquisition antibiotic cost was $73,117 but constituted only 20% of the total outpatient intravenous antibiotic therapy cost. The per diem ambulatory cost was $140/patient/day.


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