Abstract

LOZADA, Yoleima; FALCONE, Marinela  and  GRANERO, Ricardo. Oral administration of intravenous preparation of Vitamin K for excessive anticoagulation due to warfarin. Medicina (B. Aires) [online]. 2012, vol.72, n.2, pp.115-118. ISSN 0025-7680.

Anticoagulation therapy with warfarin, a common clinical practice, needs to be monitored using protombine time expressed as the International Normalized Ratio (INR); when safety range is exceeded, Vitamin K (Vit-K) could be administered with preference orally. In Venezuela the specific oral preparation for Vit-K is not available. This is a double blinded, randomized, placebo controlled, clinical trial; 20 patients, age 18-60 year with initial INR ≥ 6, ≤10, were randomized to oral Vit-K 1.25mg (prepared from intravenous presentation) or placebo plus withholding warfarin. INR < 3.5 at 24 hours of treatment (the primary end point) was achieved by 70% among Vit-K, and 20% among placebo patients; given an absolute risk reduction (ARR), of 50% (CI95%: 14.4-85.6) ρ = 0.028, NNT 2 (CI95%: 1.3 - 6.9). No adverse events were recorded including INR < 2 at 24 hours of treatment administration. Our results are consistent with studies where specific oral presentation of Vit-K was used. The results indicate that oral administration of Vit-K, prepared from an intravenous Vit-K preparation, is safe and more effective to revert excessive anticoagulation than simply withholding warfarin, in places where specific preparation of oral Vit-K is not available or too expensive.

Keywords : Vitamin K; Warfarin; Oral administration; Clinical trial; Anticoagulation.

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