Warfarin

Question 1

What is the warfarin dose for rapid anticoagulation?

Answer 1

Give 5 mg or 10 mg once a day for 2 days

Question 2

How long does it take for the anticoagulation effect of warfarin to develop?

Answer 2

48 to 72 hours

Question 3

What is the usual dose for people with AF?

Answer 3

• 1 or 2 mg each day

usually no need for rapid anticoagulation so low dose is ok

Question 4

How long is warfarin treatment for people with dvt?

Answer 4

6 weeks

Question 5

How long is warfarin treatment for DVT or PE where there are risk factors?

Answer 5

6 months

Question 6

How long is treatment of warfarin for recurrent DVT / PE / AF?

Answer 6

long term

Question 7

What if a woman becomes pregnant/is planning a pregnancy?

Answer 7

she will need to stop taking warfarin and to start using low molecular weight heparin

Question 8

In general, how soon is warfarin stopped before surgery?

Answer 8

5 days

once the INR is 1.5 or higher the surgery can take place

Question 9

How soon before dental procedures should the INR be checked?

Answer 9

72 hours before

Question 10

What would you do if the INR is greater than 8.0 with no bleeding or minor bleeding?

Answer 10

• stop warfarin and give 0.5-1mg phytomenadione

Question 11

What would you do if the INR is 6.0–8.0 with no bleeding or minor bleeding ?

Answer 11

• stop warfarin

- restart it when INR is less than 5

Question 12

What would you do if the INR is less than 6.0, but more than 0.5 units above the target value?

Answer 12

• reduce dose, or stop warfarin.

- Restart warfarin when the INR less than 5.0

Question 13

What would you do if the INR is high, but less than 5.0?

Answer 13

• The warfarin dose will need to be reduced and/or one or two doses may need to be omitted — the INR should then be measured 2 or 3 days later to ensure that it is falling