Warfarin safety and efficacy in patients with thoracic aortic plaque and atrial fibrillation. SPAF TEE Investigators. Stroke Prevention and Atrial Fibrillation. Transesophageal echocardiography.
Patients with atrial fibrillation and with documented aortic plaque who were assigned to adjusted-dose warfarin therapy (international normalized ratio 2.0 to 3.0) had an annual rate of cholesterol embolization of 0.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.1% to 5.3%/patient-year). Warfarin-assigned patients with plaque had a lower rate of embolic events (5.9%/year; 95% CI 3.0 to 12) than those on combination low-dose warfarin (international normalized ratio <1.5) plus aspirin (17.3%/year; 95% CI 11 to 27; p = 0.01).