Patient Self-Monitoring of Oral Anticoagulant Therapy

Coumarin derivatives are widely used oral anticoagulants for patients with chronic atrial fibrillation, venous thromboembolism, valvular heart disease, myocardial infarction or a mechanical prosthetic heart valve. Because of the narrow therapeutic window associated with coumarins and the potential for drug interactions, frequent monitoring of anticoagulation is required to maintain the International Normalized Ratio (INR) between 2.0 to 3.5 for …