Drug interactions with warfarin often serious: warfarin tops the list of medications that can cause fatal drug interactions.(Drug overview)

Publication: Internal Medicine News

Publication Date: 15-JUN-06

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COPYRIGHT 2006 International Medical News Group

PHILADELPHIA -- Drug interactions involving warfarin are among the most dangerous that occur commonly in clinical practice, Dr. Douglas S. Paauw said at the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians.

As many as one-third of all hospitalizations in the United States are associated with drug interactions or side effects, and warfarin is one of the main culprits. "If you look statistically at what are the drug interactions that kill people, warfarin interactions are at the top of the list," noted Dr. Paauw, professor of medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle.

With binders such as cholestyramine, for example, the interference actually happens twice. Cholestyramine directly binds the anticoagulant and decreases its absorption...

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