Dabigatran is Less Effective Than Warfarin at Attenuating Mechanical Heart Valve‐Induced Thrombin Generation

BACKGROUND: Patients with mechanical heart valves (MHV) require warfarin to prevent thromboembolism. Although dabigatran was as effective as warfarin for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation when compared with warfarin in patients with MHV, the study was stopped early because of more strokes and bleeding with dabigatran. To determine why dabigatran was less effective than warfarin, we compared their effects on thrombin generation induced by …