The results of a study into the benefits of warfarin for patients who have suffered a blockage in a lung artery suggest that the anticoagulant should be administered indefinitely. A trial of 371 patients who had experienced a first episode of unprovoked pulmonary embolism (people who had no major risk factor for thrombosis) and who had been treated initially for six months with a vitamin K antagonist were randomised to receive treatment with either warfarin or placebo for 18 months. The warfarin group lost the benefit of that treatment once the drug was stopped, researchers reported in JAMA on 7 July 2015.
展开▼
