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Genetic testing helps set safe dose of common blood thinner

26-Sep-2017

Key points from article :

Warfarin is commonly prescribed to patients to prevent life-threatening blood clots.

Person’s genetic makeup influences how the drug is processed in the body.

Too much warfarin can cause internal bleeding; too little fails to prevent clots.

It causes more major adverse events than any other oral drug.

Genetic testing reduced adverse events by 27 percent.

Clinical trial took into account genetic variants in three genes.

Mentioned in this article:

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Brian F. Gage

Professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

JAMA

General medical journal

Topics mentioned on this page:
Diagnostics