What are anticoagulants?
An anticoagulant is a drug (blood thinner) that treats, prevents, and reduces the risk of blood clots-breaking off and traveling to vital organs of the body, which can lead to life threatening situations. They work by preventing blood from coagulating to form a clot in the vital organs such as the heart, lungs, and brain.
Why are they used?
An anticoagulant medicine is used in patients to prevent blood clots from forming in veins, arteries, the heart, and the brain of a patient. For example, if the clot travels to the patient’s heart it can cause a heart attack or if one forms in the brain it may cause a stroke or TIA (mini-stroke, transient ischemic attack).
Examples of diseases and health conditions that require treatment with anticoagulants to reduce the risk of clots forming, or are used to prevent life-threatening problems include:
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
Heart attack
Stroke
For the prevention or treatment of:
Pulmonary embolism
Blood clots within venous and arterial catheters
Stent thrombosis
Blood clots during atrial fibrillation (afib) treatment
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