A high dose of dabigatran was more effective in preventing strokes in high-risk patients than warfarin.
The results led some practitioners to suggest that dabigatran could replace warfarin as the standard treatment for atrial fibrillation.
In an 18,000-patient, phase III trial, those randomised to 150mg of dabigatran twice a day had significantly lower rates of both haemorrhagic stroke and ischaemic stroke than patients taking warfarin, according to Michael Ezekowitz and colleagues at the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research and Heart Center in Wynnewood.
But at the lower dose of 110mg twice a day, the drug was comparable to warfarin, he reported at the European Society of Cardiology meeting, Stockholm.
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Tags: Stroke
