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Self-management of oral anticoagulation in children with congenital heart disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 August 2006

Thomas D. Christensen
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Skejby Sygehus, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus C, Denmark Institute of Experimental Clinical Research, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus C, Denmark
Jørn Attermann
Affiliation:
Department of Biostatistics, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
Vibeke E. Hjortdal
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Skejby Sygehus, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus C, Denmark Institute of Experimental Clinical Research, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus C, Denmark
Marianne Maegaard
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Skejby Sygehus, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus C, Denmark
J. Michael Hasenkam
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Skejby Sygehus, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus C, Denmark Institute of Experimental Clinical Research, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus C, Denmark

Abstract

Objective: The concept of self – management of oral anticoagulation has been shown to entail better quality of treatment than conventional management when assessed in selected adults. We have extended the concept of self – management to include children with congenital cardiac disease, hypothesizing self-management of oral anticoagulation is also possible in this subset of patients. Our aim was to assess the quality of self-management. Methods: We trained 14 children aged from 2.2 to 15.6 years, with a mean age of 9.7 years, and their parents, in domiciliary analysis of the International Normalized Ratio and necessary adjustment of dosage of coumarin. The curriculum for training lasted for 27 weeks, and the patients and their parents were followed for a period of up to 31 months by weekly measurement of the values obtained for the International Normalized Ratio. Results: The patients were observed over a mean of 547 days, with a range from 214 to 953 days. The patients were within the therapeutic targetted range of the International Normalized Ratio for a median of 65.5% of the time, with a range from 17.6 % to 90.4 %. None of the patients experienced thromboembolic or bleeding complications requiring doctoral intervention. All the patients and their parents expressed full satisfaction with the treatment. Conclusion: Selfmanagement of oral anticoagulation provides a good quality of treatment, which is feasible and safe in selected children with congenital cardiac disease.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
2001 Cambridge University Press

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