New research shows that patients that stop Xarelto treatment, suddenly are at a high risk of blood clots inside their brain. A blood clot in the brain can result in paralysis of the body – and can be lethal.
Researchers reached their decision after examining information in many registers, including the national medical registers for causes of death and for medicinal product figures of cause of failure rate. These contain details about the various patients treated with medications, their doses, illnesses and causes of death.
Statistics over the number of blood clots for every 1,000 patients during and after treatment with Xarelto demonstrated a significant increase in the number of blood clots in patients soon after the patients stopped taking the medicine. “Our assignment was to analyze what happens to patients who run out of medication or who break off their treatment for other reasons,” says Torp-Pedersen. “By correlating the data in these types of registers we could observe that these patients have a substantial risk for a blood clot in the brain after a break or in the ending of their treatment.”
The number of blood clots grew by 300 percent during the first 90 days after the treatment stabilised after 180 days, then fell gradually and ended.
Atrial fibrillation is the most frequent irregular heartbeat and results from a disruption in the heart’s electrical system. Typical symptoms are tiredness, breathing difficulties and palpitations.
Xarelto was created as a replacement of warfarin as a none needing blood monitoring medication for Atrial fibrillation. It is utilized to prevent blood clots and in specific cases, patients that are bedridden for an extended period where known to benefit.