Heparins and vitamin K antagonists have been the primary agents used for anticoagulation
in certain cardiovascular and thromboembolic diseases for over 50 years. However, they …

New oral anticoagulants (OACs) that directly inhibit Factor Xa (FXa) or thrombin have been
developed for the long-term prevention of thromboembolic disorders. These novel agents …

Background Dabigatran is an oral direct thrombin inhibitor that has been shown to be an
effective alternative to warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation. We evaluated the use of …

Dabigatran etexilate is a new oral anticoagulant recently approved in Europe for the
prevention of stroke or systemic embolism in adult patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation …

Background Patients with mechanical heart valves (MHV) require warfarin to prevent
thromboembolism. Although dabigatran was as effective as warfarin for stroke prevention in …

Regeneration deficiency is one of the main obstacles limiting the effectiveness of tissue-
engineered scaffolds. To develop scaffolds that are capable of accelerating regeneration …

Valvular heart disease is a common disease often necessitating valve replacement.
Mechanical heart valves (MHVs) are often used in younger patients because of their longer …

TO THE EDITOR: The article by Bakker and colleagues (1) presents impressive control of
disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which ironically may have …

The estimated prevalence of mitral or aortic valvular heart disease is≈ 2.5% in the general
population of Western countries, and is expected to rise with population aging. A substantial …

Thromboembolic disease is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in the developed world
and is caused by an excessive stimulation of coagulation. Thrombin is a key serine protease …