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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2007;298:1504-1505.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Mounting evidence indicates that dual anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy is no more effective than monotherapy in treating a variety of cardiovascular conditions, but it does increase the risk of life-threatening bleeding.

"What's interesting is that while clinicians are aware of the potential bleeding complications with these antithrombotic drugs, they do not appreciate that the risk is not purely additive; it is synergistic," said James M. Brophy, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology and Clinical Epidemiology at McGill University Health Centre, in Montreal.

Dual anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy for some cardiovascular conditions appears not to add benefit but increases risk of bleeding. (Photo credit: Stuart Brill/iStockphoto.com)

Dual anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy is currently indicated only for the management of patients with prosthetic heart valves and for acute arterial thrombosis. Monotherapy with an anticoagulant is used to treat venous thromboembolic disease and atrial . . . [Full Text of this Article]

NEW EVIDENCE