A way to reduce bleeding among patients after bariatric surgery was identified. Better measures for accurate dosages of blood thinners in obese patients should be taken.

‘Obese patients could benefit by using standard dose of blood thinners without harmful effects.’
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While blood thinners given before surgery and during hospitalization have been shown to reduce clot risk, the optimal dose, timing and the duration of the treatment for obese patients has yet to be determined.Read More..





"There is no requirement for drug manufacturers to perform research studies in obese individuals, which means there are no standard recommendations," said Brunetti, the lead investigator on the study. "We do not know which methods perform best in preventing blood clots without risk of bleeding in cases of extreme body weight."
In the study, patients received one of two types of blood thinners before surgery: subcutaneous enoxaparin, which lowers the activity of clotting proteins in the blood, and unfractionated heparin (UFH), which works with a natural protein in the body to block clot formation.
The researchers looked at two measures for determining effectiveness in preventing blood clots: anti-Xa, the standard measure, which assesses blood clot inhibitors in plasma, and endogenous thrombin potential (ETP), which measures the enzyme in blood plasma that causes blood to clot.
The results showed that while both types of blood thinners prevented clots, 80 percent of patients receiving enoxaparin had minor bleeding during surgery, which correlated with the ETP measurement. The results suggest that ETP, which identified the bleeding risk, provides a more accurate assessment of the best dosage for the various blood thinners.
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