Use of prothrombin fragment 1+2 for evaluating anticoagulant therapy after mechanical heart valve replacement

• Published in: Journal of artificial organs 2001-12, Vol.4 (4), p.295-297
• Main Authors: Okada, Yoshiharu, Mori, Takanobu, Asano, Mitsuru, Ootake, Hiroshi, Sekiguchi, Shigeaki, Matsuo, Yoshiaki, Aiba, Masahiro, Yamada, Makoto, Inoue, Kouich, Kawada, Tadanori, Takaba, Toshihiro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anticoagulants; Catheters; Drug therapy
• ISSN: 1434-7229; 1619-0904
• DOI: 10.1007/BF02480020

Prothrombin fragment 1+2 (F1+2) is a coagulation factor newly used as a molecular marker to monitor anticoagulant therapy in patients undergoing heart valve replacement. We evaluated the usefulness of F1+2 against that of prothrombin time (PT) reported as the internationalized normalized ratio (INR) in 93 patients undergoing mechanical heart valve implantation between August 1999 and July 2000. The study group consisted of 38 men and 55 women, with an average age of 61.1±11.2 years. The surgeries were 34 aortic replacements, 9 double valve replacements, and 50 mitral valve replacements. Warfarin doses were controlled based on PT-INR values at a target range of 1.5-2.5 F1+2 levels in the 0.4-1.2 nmol/l level were considered normal. No thromboembolism or bleeding complication occurred in any patient during the mean follow-up period of 12 months. The overall correction coefficient between F1+2 and PT-INR was 0.165 (P