Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Use and Actions of Heparin

Use and Actions of Heparin
Heparin is a naturally occurring product of body that works as anticoagulant flea bites vs bed bug bites to stop the prevention of blood clot in important blood vessels or arteries. It is medically used for the same purpose to prevent the formation of clot in the body mostly after surgeries or accidents. Apart from being anticoagulant it is also medically used to extend the existing blood clots from the respective vessel or vein. Heparin is not responsible for breaking or tearing the existing clots in body but it triggers the natural mechanism in body that works for desolation or breakage of the clot. It is used as an excellent anticoagulant in various conditions such as pulmonary embolism (where the blood vessel gets obstructed by blood clot affecting right ventricle of heart), deep vein thrombosis, thrombosis by iv catheters or similar elements and fibrillation of arteries. It is also administered after some surgeries to prevent the complication of formation of blood clot around the area.


As the molecular size and weight of heparin is big and large it is not administered orally. In oral administration the drug remains undigested or unabsorbed and does not produce any desirable effects on the body. For this reason heparin infusion through parenteral route is always suggested by the doctors. Heparin could be injected in the veins or under the skin that is intravenously or from subcutaneous route. But the most chosen route of administration is through veins because subcutaneous administration might cause hematoma that is swelling filled with blood. Heparin have very short half life which is the reason why continuous heparin IV is suggested by the doctors. Many times heparin is associated with other oral anticoagulant and in this case the continuous infusion is monitored closely by the doctors for the desired results. The route of administration is actually decided on the weight factor of the heparin. The routes differ for non-weight based and weight based heparin molecules.


Heparin infusion often results in some adverse effects or actions. The most serious out of them is thrombocytopenia where the platelet count of the body suddenly gets decreased to dangerous levels. This usually happens due to certain immunological response that targets platelets instead of antigen or other microorganisms. Another side effect is raise in the values of potassium in blood which is also called as hyperkalemia. Some adverse effects disappear after the heparin IV is discontinued while others need medical attention. The dosage and the length of administration is decided by the doctors depending on the conditions. The dosage is often adjusted depending on the results of coagulation tests. When the medicine is required continually continuous intravenous infusion is suggested by the doctors while in other cases frequent intravenous injections are applied to the patient.










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