New stroke pill more effective than traditional remedy
By IANSTuesday, November 16, 2010
LONDON - A daily pill to prevent strokes could replace the traditional treatment based on rat poison for patients with an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), researchers said.
A trial of more than 14,000 patients found the drug reduced the number of strokes suffered by arrhythmia patients by a fifth.
It showed that rivaroxaban cut the risk of stroke by an extra 21 percent compared with warfarin, a medication used since the 1950s.
The drug is one of a new generation of blood thinners which work better than warfarin and have fewer drawbacks, reports the Daily Mail.
Rivaroxaban, which has the brand name Xarelto, also lowered the risk of some adverse effects from anti-clotting medicines.
Patients taking it were a third less likely to have intercranial bleeding - bleeding in the skull - and had 41 percent less risk of haemorrhagic stroke.
The study was carried out in 45 countries by researchers from the University of Edinburgh and Duke University in North Carolina, US
Keith Fox, professor of cardiology at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Our study showed that rivaroxaban is simpler to administer and patients taking it have fewer strokes and blood clots.”
Warfarin, which is still used in large doses to kill vermin, is often inconvenient for patients, as they require careful monitoring, regular blood tests and frequent clinic visits.
