PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Rizzo, Toni ED - van de Werf, Frans TI - Dabigatran Inferior to Warfarin in Patients with Mechanical Heart Valves DP - 2013 Nov 01 TA - MD Conference Express PG - 10--11 VI - 13 IP - 15 4099 - http://mdc.sagepub.com/content/13/15/10.short 4100 - http://mdc.sagepub.com/content/13/15/10.full AB - Preclinical studies in porcine mechanical heart valve models suggested that dabigatran may effectively prevent valve thrombosis [Schomburg JL et al. J Invest Surg 2012]. These results led to A Randomized, Phase 2 Study to Evaluate the Safety and Pharmacokinetics of Oral Dabigatran Etexilate in Patients After Heart Valve Replacement [RE-ALIGN; Eikelboom JW et al. N Engl J Med 2013]. The aim of the RE-ALIGN trial was to evaluate a dosing algorithm of dabigatran based on the RE-LY study to prevent thromboembolic complications in patients with mechanical heart valve replacement.