Anticoagulants May Increase Mortality After Hip and Knee Surgery Medscape

Description: NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Apr 02 - A review of studies looking at anticoagulant prophylaxis after hip and knee arthroplasty reveals that not only do these agents fail to completely prevent pulmonary embolism (PE), their use may actually increase all-cause mortality. The results, which appear in the March issue of Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research (Clin Orthop Relat Res 2008;466:714-721), show that the risk was most pronounced with so-called potent anticoagulants, such as low-molecular weight heparin, ximelagatran, fondaparinux, and rivaroxaban. Warfarin, a slow-acting oral anticoagulant, raised the risk to a lesser extent.