At the 30th annual American Venous Forum meeting Dr Evi Kalodiki from the Josef Pflug Vascular Laboratory, Ealing Hospital, received the prize for best poster presentation.
Dr Kalodiki is an honorary consultant in vascular surgery at Ealing Hospital and is affiliated with Imperial College, the West London Vascular and Interventional Centre and the Thrombosis & Haemostasis research laboratory, Loyola University Chicago, USA.
In her presentation, Dr Kalodiki discussed the hot topic of an antidote to dabigatran which is a new oral anticoagulant. This is important because such an antidote (idarucizumab) may be required in an emergency setting, like haemorrhage, when rapid reversal of anti-coagulation is required. Idarucizumab acts by binding to the benzamidine group of dabigatran, thereby inhibiting its anti-thrombin activity.
This is of clinical importance because simultaneous administration of idarucizumab may compromise the pharmacodynamic profile of benzamidine derived drugs such the anti-psychotics, anti-fungals, anti-malarials and other compounds.