Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Thigh haematoma following acupuncture treatment in a patient on warfarin

Be careful out there, I'm sure your doctor warned you of all these side effects of warfarin. Not sure why anyone would believe in acupuncture anyway.
http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2012/bcr-2012-006676.full
picture at the link.

Description

A 82-year-old woman on warfarin for atrial-fibrillation was admitted via the acute medical take having developed a large haematoma in the right thigh (picture). She gave a history of recent acupuncture treatment for trochanteric bursitis. Acupuncture treatment had been given in the community and we do not know if the therapist was aware of the fact she was being treated with warfarin, nor do we know if enquiry was made about the state of anticoagulant control at the time of needle insertion. Retrospective examination of the anticoagulant clinic records revealed that her international normalized ration (INR) was 2.4 at the time of needle insertion.
Ultrasound scan confirmed that the haematoma extended deeply into the right buttock and upper thigh.
Her haemoglobin dropped to 8.7 g/dl compared to 12.1 g/dl before acupuncture therapy. Her INR was 2.2 on the day of admission, she was on stable dose of warfarin and there was no concomitant drug interaction.
Warfarin was stopped and she was given oral vitamin K to reverse her INR, she did not require a blood transfusion. She made a good recovery and her haematoma has gradually resolved.
The rationale for using warfarin was reviewed (repeated ECG was sinus rhythm) and a decision was taken to withhold further warfarin therapy.
Acupuncture is widely practised in developed health economies.1 It is estimated that 2.5–10% of the UK population receive non-conventional treatments (‘alternative therapy’) each year and that only 10% of these are via referral in the NHS.2 Acupuncture is the most commonly used of the non-conventional treatments. Acupuncture can be associated with serious adverse events like bleeding and subcutaneous haematoma 6.1%.3

Learning points

  • Acupuncture can be associated with serious adverse events like subcutaneous haematoma especially in patients on warfarin.
  • Acupuncture should be used with caution in patients on warfarin.
 

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