Oral Anticoagulant Treatment: Friend or Foe in Cardiovascular Disease?

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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 12:58 pm

Post subject: OAC) shown to induce arterial calcification.

Oral Anticoagulant Treatment: Friend or Foe in Cardiovascular

Disease?

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Oral Anticoagulant Treatment: Friend or Foe in Cardiovascular

Disease?

 

Schurgers LJ, Aebert H, Vermeer C, Bueltmann B, Janzen J.

Department of Biochemistry and Cardiovascular Research Institute,

University Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

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Calcification is a common complication in cardiovascular disease and

may affect both arteries and heart valves.

 

Matrix Gla-protein (MGP) is a potent inhibitor of vascular

calcification the activity of which is regulated by vitamin K.

In animal models, vitamin K-antagonists (oral anticoagulants,

OAC) were shown to induce arterial calcification.

 

To investigate whether also in man long term OAC treatment may

induce calcification, we have measured the grade of aortic valve

calcification in patients with and without pre-operative OAC

treatment.

OAC-treated subjects were matched with non-treated ones for age,

gender and disease.

 

Calcifications in patients receiving pre-operative OAC treatment

were significantly (2-fold) larger than in non-treated patients.

 

These observations suggest that OAC, which are widely used for anti-

thrombotic therapy, may induce cardiovascular calcifications as an

adverse side effect.

 

PMID: 15265793 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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