Clinical Analysis of Warfarin Anticoagulant Therapy after Heart Valve Replacement

Objective To analyze the effect and complications of warfarin anticoagulant therapy after heart valve replacement so as to provide a reference for selecting appropriate warfarin dosage in clinical practice.Methods The clinical data of 188 patients with heart valve replacement admitted in our hospital from January, 2006 to June, 2011 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were followed up postoperatively, the dosage of warfarin and postoperative complications of every patient were recorded. Results All patients were successfully followed up, and 15 cases(8.0%) developed complications, of them 10 cases(5.3%) with bleeding and 5 cases(2.7%) with embolization. 173 patients(92.0%) were normal. The warfarin dosage, prothrombin time(PT) and international normalized ratio(INR) of the hemorrhage group were significantly greater than those of the normal group and the embolism group, the differences were statistically significant(P0.05). The average warfarin dosage of normal group was(2.0±0.6)mg/d, PT was(18.6±2.4) s and INR was(2.1±0.5). Conclusion The warfarin should be routinely used for anticoagulation after heart valve replacement, and the INR is controlled in the range of 1.8~2.5 can meet the requirement of anticoagulant and obviously reduce the complications.