Why isn everyone with atrial fibrillation given warfarin, if its more effective at preventing stroke?
“It’s a very difficult drug to take,” Halperin says. For starters, it carries a major risk of potentially life-threatening bleeding. Also, many drugs, including aspirin and some antibiotics, and supplements, including fish oil, can have a dangerous interaction with warfarin. Several surveys indicate that only half of patients with A-fib who are at increased risk of stroke take warfarin, says Aaron D. Kugelmass, MD, chairman of the committee that chose to which studies to highlight at the ACC meeting and director of the cardiac catheterization lab at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
