Making Stroke Prevention a Priority In Atrial Fibrillation

Featuring Dr. Ratika Parkash, MD, FRCPC, Cardiologist

Duration: 2 minutes, 38 seconds

Patients with atrial fibrillation have a physiologic risk of stroke because of the potential to form blood clots within the left side of the heart. When the heart is in fibrillation in the upper chamber, there is an area of the heart that does not move normally.

In that area, blood clots can form. That is how blood clots form, when there is an abnormal movement of blood that is slow. In atrial fibrillation, that happens in the upper chamber of the heart. Those blood clots can then break off and go to the brain. They can also go to other parts of the body, but certainly the brain is the one that is of most concern.

Patients who have atrial fibrillation have a higher risk of stroke if they have certain risk factors that they also have with respect to their heart. Those risk factors are high blood pressure, diabetes, heart failure, and history of a prior stroke, as well as age. Generally above 65 will increase your risk of stroke.

There are a number of medications out there that can prevent stroke very effectively. They reduce your risk by over two thirds to make you more like the general population. Warfarin is the medication that we have had for several years and has been around.

That drug is very good, but does have a higher risk of bleeding in the head and is difficult to manage. There are several dietary – things that can interfere with Warfarin, versus the more newer drugs we have available to us, where your diet is not affected. These medications that are newer can be taken with or without food, and they are taken once a day or twice a day depending on the type of medication that is prescribed.

Compliance is very important with respect to medications in patients with atrial fibrillation. Stroke prevention is done using blood thinners, and these blood thinners will not be active if they are missed. The risk of bleeding is generally low with the blood thinners that we have on the market today. Especially compared to the older blood thinner we had which was Warfarin.

Patients can do a lot to decrease their risk of stroke in atrial fibrillation. They can quit smoking, they can drink less alcohol, they can pursue a regular exercise program if they aren’t already doing that and have a healthy diet.

If you’re looking for more information on atrial fibrillation you should contact your local general practitioner or pharmacist and they may be able to refer you to a cardiologist to then have more education and information about treatment and options for atrial fibrillation.

Presenter: Dr. Ratika Parkash, Cardiologist, Halifax, NS

Local Practitioners: Cardiologist