Warfarin After Anterior ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2008-01-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Following severe heart attacks involving the front wall of the heart (anterior myocardial
infarction), patients are at risk of developing blood clots in the main pumping chamber that
can cause a stroke. In the past, studies have shown that a blood thinner (warfarin) can
decrease the risk of stroke and clot formation if administered to patients after an anterior
myocardial infarction.
However, in today's current practice, certain heart attack patients are commonly treated with
two blood-thinning medications (aspirin and clopidogrel) to prevent recurrent heart attacks.
Thus, a clinical problem is created as physicians are not clear how to treat patients after
an anterior myocardial infarction who are at risk of a clot but require aspirin and
clopidogrel to keep their blood vessels open. Adding warfarin to the combination of aspirin
and clopidogrel will possibly decrease the risk of stroke but increase the risk of bleeding.
Currently, there is no good evidence to help guide physicians. As demonstrated by a survey
done at the Hamilton Health Sciences, there is a fifty/fifty split between physicians who use
dual (aspirin and clopidogrel) versus triple (aspirin, clopidogrel, and warfarin) therapy in
the treatment of similar patients as described above.
The purpose of this study is to address the bleeding and stroke complications in patients
after a severe anterior myocardial infarction. Half of the eligible patients will receive
dual therapy and half will receive triple therapy. We will compare the incidence of stroke,
blood clots, and bleeding complications between the two groups at 3 months.