Friday, April 07, 2006

OASIS-6: fondaparinux in ST segment elevation MI

OASIS-6 was just reported in JAMA. This is a very complicated and busy paper, the gist of which is that anticoagulation (in this study, with fondaparinux) has a broader role in ST segment elevation MI (STEMI), previously having been restricted primarily to an adjunctive role in patients undergoing thrombolysis. It was studied in a broad range of patients with STEMI and was superior to placebo in patients who were not felt to have an established indication for anticoagulants, and to unfractionated heparin (UFH) in some subgroups of those who were.

I can’t do justice to the detailed data, a good visual representation of which is provided in figure 4 of the paper. Editorial comment can be found here.

Fondaparinux (Arixtra) is emerging as an anticoagulant for acute coronary syndromes. The folks at Glaxo Smith Kline may have something to celebrate. Read here about OASIS-5 (fondaparinux in unstable angina and NSTEMI) and for background info.

1 comment:

alfian said...

I prescribe fondaparinux for my patients with STEMI for 5 days. whether there is literature suggesting that therapy for 3 or 4 days is more effective than 5 days or more?