Effects of New Oral Anticoagulants on Liver Functions
- 1. Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Bozok University, Turkey
CITATION
Ekim H (2018) Effects of New Oral Anticoagulants on Liver Functions. J Liver Clin Res 5(1): 1045.
INTRODUCTION
The liver, which can be identified as the main factory of our body, is an organ where many biochemical reactions take place. Everything that is eaten and consumed is processed by our liver. It is important to know the effect of many novel drugs or herbal compositions on the liver. These chemical compounds might cause serious damage to the liver during short-term or long-term. So, we need to know the positive and negative changes especially on the liver of novel drugs and medicinal herbal supplements.
Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is a multi-factorial and potentially life-threatening disease. It can lead to serious complications such as pulmonary embolism (PE) and post thrombotic syndrome. Although DVT and PE have different presentations, they are similar disorder. Therefore, both disorders are called VTE.
Heparin or low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) and warfarin (coumadin) are frequently used in the treatment of patients with VTE. Coumadin therapy is a two-edged sword due to its narrow therapeutic window. Therefore, patients using oral coumadin should be monitored to maintain the targeted INR (international normalized ratio) levels.
Maintaining the INR value at target values (between 2-3) is sometimes difficult, because many drugs and food interact with Coumadin. As a result, new drugs have been searched and marketed. Will new oral anticoagulants help us in solving these problems? Although there have been great expectations from these new oral anticoagulant drugs, they do not yet have effective antidotes. Ximelagatran did not enter clinical use due to hepatotoxic effect in a short time. However, dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban were approved for the prophylaxis and treatment of VTE.
There may be some hepatotoxic effects of novel drugs over time due to genetic differences among people. For this reason, the liver and kidney function tests should be regularly measured in patients using these agents. I hope that the possible unknown side-effects of these novel drugs on the liver will be published in the forthcoming issues of Journal of Liver and Clinical Research. The use of herbal hepatoprotective agents in combination with these drugs may also be a research topic. Thus, the contribution of young and dynamic researchers to this journal will be required worldwide.
The Journal of Liver and Clinical Research is a great opportunity to publish scientific studies for young researchers all over the world. These studies will undoubtedly contribute to evidence-based medicine. Therefore, we are looking forward to seeing further articles to be published in the Journal of Liver and Clinical Research.