New Blood Thinning Drug Studied

Researchers at the University of Kentucky are studying a blood-thinning drug that may become the standard for use in procedures to unblock cardiac arteries.

Results of the study on the drug enoxaparin appear in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Steven Steinhubl, senior author of the study and a researcher at the University of Kentucky’s Linda and Jack Gill Heart Institute, says enoxaparin was found to carry less risk for bleeding than unfractionated heparin.

While elective stent and angioplasty procedures to clear blocked arteries are generally safe, a small percentage of patients experience significant bleeding.

The Kentucky study found that enoxaparin cut major bleeding by more than half and that doctors were more likely to achieve targeted blood thinning for their patients with enoxaparin than unfractionated heparin.

Bleeding following a stent placement or angioplasty is an event that is not only dangerous for patients, but also carries a financial burden for the healthcare industry as a whole, Steinhubl says.