Video Spotlight: Mitral Valve Replacement Video By Michael Petracek, MD

Hi, I am aged 72 and following my arotic valve replacement with a titanium valve, made by Medtronic in 1999 I have enjoyed a much improved life style.
I have had two problems which I would like to share with you:
1] My warfarin dosage is 7.5 mg per day and originally I took a combination of 1, 3 & 5 mg tablets, the tablets are each coloured differently and as I am coloured blind [I understand 10% of men are] I mistook the correct dosage which resulted in me under dosing and having blood clots on my brain – fortunately no damage was done. tablets do not always have the dosage number imprinted, I would like to see this a mandatory with all warfarin tablets. I now only order 3mg tablets [3x2+1/2]
2] My natural INR range is 1.5 but I am asked to keep to 1.0 My range varies from 2.0 to 3.5 INR if it goes above 3.0 I am asked to reduced my warfarn dosage to 7 This I refuse to do, incase it results in a blood clot situation again. Why can’t the medical people understand that it would be better to go to 3.5 than 1.5?

Kind regards

Michael Littler

Michael,

Thanks for writing.

You bring up some great points about aortic valve replacement, the Medtronic valve and warfarin. However, I know when to say when. The questions you ask are pretty technical. I’ll ask Dr. Robert Light, our website physician, to answer the question.

Dr. Light any ideas?

Cheers,

Adam