Pharmacogenetic variants influence vitamin K anticoagulant dosing in patients with mechanical prosthetic heart valves.

Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) are class I oral anticoagulants that are widely prescribed following surgical heart valve implantation. The objective of this study was to quantify the relative effects of and genotypes in predicting VKA dosing. A total of 506 South Indian patients with mechanical prosthetic heart valves who were prescribed oral VKAs, such as warfarin or acenocoumarol, were genotyped.