Blood thinners not for low-risk patients

Hyderabad: Blood thinners are used to ensure safety of patients against sudden heart attack and stroke, but it has also been found in a study to cause internal bleeding in the brain when prescribed to low-risk patients.

Low-risk patients are those who do not have an identified block or a long history of hypertension or heart diseases. Dr K.N. Raju, senior cardiologist, said prolonged use of aspirin led to bleeding in the brain. “Blood thinners have to be prescribed to those who have blocks in the heart or any aggressive heart disease,” he said.

The study followed up more than 56,000 patients and found that in one per cent of the patients death was due to internal bleeding and not due to stroke. Dr Srinivas K, senior cardiologist, said that factors like uncontrolled hypertension, high levels of bad cholesterol and bad lifestyle are some of the reasons why these blood thinners are prescribed.

“They have to be discontinued after diagnostic and clinical evaluations again. Hence the patient has to be put off the medicines if their hypertension and other diseases are controlled. Follow-up and evaluation is important,” Dr Srinivas said.