Sunday, August 24, 2008

OHSU Pharmacy Pearls (Guidelines)

http://www.ohsu.edu/medicine/residency/handouts/pharmpearls/
Aminoglycoside in Dialysis pts, Conivaptan, ICU drugs, Electrolyte replacement ect

Thursday, August 21, 2008

A review of warfarin dosing and monitoring

Mariamma Kuruvilla, PharmD and Cheryle Gurk-Turner, RPH

The goal of anticoagulant therapy with warfarin is to administer the lowest effective dose of the drug to maintain the target international normalized ratio (INR). Warfarin, a vitamin K antagonist, is an oral anticoagulant indicated for the prevention and treatment of venous thrombosis and its extension and the prevention and treatment of the thromboembolic complications associated with atrial fibrillation. Warfarin has also been used to prevent recurrent transient ischemic attacks and to reduce the risk of recurrent myocardial infarction, but data supporting these indications are inconclusive at this time (1).

Warfarin inhibits the synthesis of clotting factors II, VII, IX, and X, as well as the naturally occurring endogenous anticoagulant proteins C and S (2). The anticoagulant and antithrombotic activity of warfarin depends on the clearance of functional clotting factors from the systemic circulation once the drug is administered (2, 3). The earliest changes in INR are typically seen 24 to 36 hours after administration of the dose. The antithrombotic effect of warfarin is not present until approximately the fifth day of therapy, which is dependent on the clearance of prothrombin (1, 2).

Initiation of warfarin therapy is challenging, since the pharmacodynamic response is delayed and difficult to predict. Because prothrombin has a half-life of around 50 hours, loading doses of warfarin are of limited value (4). In clinical practice, loading doses (e.g., 7.5 mg or more per day) of warfarin may increase the patient's risk of bleeding complications early in therapy by eliminating the production of functional factor VII (2, 5). Administration of loading doses may place a patient in a hypercoagulable state due to a severe depletion of protein C (2). The administration of a loading dose is a possible source of prolonged hospitalization secondary to dramatic rises in the INR value that may necessitate the administration of vitamin K (5). If a rapid anticoagulant effect is required, an initial dose of heparin or a low molecular-weight heparin should be used and overlapped with warfarin for approximately 4 to 5 days. Once the INR is therapeutic for at least 2 days, the supplemental anticoagulation treatment may be discontinued. (more)