Study: Brain Bleed Outcomes No Worse With Dabigatran

A retrospective study out of the University of Minnesota, recently reported online in Stroke and discussed in a MedPageToday article, showed that the prognosis from intracranial bleeding did not appear to be poorer among patients with atrial fibrillation who are taking dabigatran (Pradaxa) instead of warfarin. The findings were consistent with a prior analysis of the RE-LY trial. Although dabigatran and the other novel oral anticoagulants have been shown to reduce the rate of intracranial hemorrhage relative to warfarin in clinical trials, there are lingering concerns that patients who have an intracranial bleed might do worse with one of the newer agents because of the lack of reversal agents. To read the full article, click here.