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Coumadin : Indications for Usage
Blood is meant to flow continuously, bringing vital nutrients and oxygen to every cell of the body. Blood should clot only when there is some injury to the blood vessel wall. This is a natural mechanism which prevents potentially fatal bleeding. If blood did not clot when a blood vessel was injured, even minor injuries could cause a person to bleed to death. Thus nature's defense is the natural clotting action of the blood. As anyone can observe from their own injuries, blood will clot within minutes if the proper conditions are present.
In some disease states, clotting occurs when it shouldn't. Blood clots which form in an abnormal time or location can be dangerous. These clots can break loose from their attachment and migrate into other body organs, causing damage. Large clots can obstruct blood flow. To treat patients with clotting disorders, anti-clotting (or more appropriately "anticoagulant") medications are prescribed.
Many of the indications for prescribing Coumadin® are common health problems. A discussion of the most common reasons for prescribing Coumadin® is presented below. However, not every patient with the medical conditions listed below will need (or can tolerate) Coumadin®. If you have questions about your Coumadin® prescription, or the reasons for administering the medication, consult your physician directly.
Conditions Commonly Treated with Coumadin® Anticoagulation:
- Treatment of Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT) -- a condition where clots form in the deep veins of the legs or pelvis.
- Pulmonary Embolism (PE) -- a condition where the arteries bringing blood to the lungs fill with clots (which usually have migrated there from another site, such as the leg or pelvic veins).
- Mechanical Heart Valves -- prevention of clot formation on a new heart valve.
- Mural Thrombus -- a condition where clots form on the inside lining of the heart under the zone of a recent heart attack.
- Stroke prevention -- some causes of stroke can be treated with anticoagulant medications, including Coumadin.
- Hypercoagulable State -- a variety of medical and surgical conditions are associated with aggressive and harmful clotting, and respond to anticoagulant medications.
- Chronic Atrial Fibrillation -- an abnormal heart rhythm associated with clot formation in the upper chamber of the heart.
- Congestive Heart Failure -- some patients with very weak hearts will develop clots on the inside of the heart chambers and should take blood thinners to prevent further clot buildup and stroke.
- Rheumatic Mitral Valve Disease -- destruction of the mitral valve from rheumatic fever can lead to enlargement of the upper heart chamber, followed by formation of clots in the upper chamber.
- Arterial Thrombosis -- some patients with very poor circulation to the lower extremities (i.e. blocked arteries) have a tendency to suddenly form clot in the arteries.
- Arterial Graft Thrombosis -- after restoring the circulation to a lower extremity with a new (synthetic) bypass graft, clots can sometimes form in the graft. Anticoagulants often help reduce the chance of sudden graft closure.
Additional Coumadin Sections:
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