Warfarin and Coronary Calcification Project (WACC)

Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Status: Completed

Conditions: Coronary Calcification

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT00868712

WU# 04-12020

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of the study is to assess whether the use of warfarin, a commonly used anticoagulation drug, is associated with increased amounts of coronary artery calcification. Studies in animals and preliminary but small retrospective studies in humans have suggested a possible link to increased tissue calcification with use of this drug. The researchers will investigate this by assessing the amount of calcification seen in the coronary arteries using a specialized computed tomography (CT) scan (electron-beam CT) and assessing to see if the amount is influenced by the amount of time a patient has been taking warfarin. The researchers will exclude patients with known coronary artery disease, chronic kidney disease or hyperparathyroidism.

Enrollment: 70 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age 18 years of age or older
• Patients referred to begin or already treated with warfarin anticoagulation therapy.

Exclusion criteria

• Known prior myocardial infarction or coronary heart disease
• History of advanced chronic kidney disease manifested by serum creatinine>2 or calculated glomerular filtration rate (GFR)<30
• History of hyperparathyroidism
• Current hypercalcemia
• Current hyperphosphatemia
• Uncertain duration of warfarin therapy
• Lack of records documenting international normalized ratio (INR) during therapy

Trial design

70 participants in 3 patient groups

1

Description:

Warfarin use < 6 months

2

Description:

Warfarin use 6-24 months

3

Description:

Warfarin use >24 months