How safe is prolonged use of Acitrom for brain venous thrombosis?
Patient: Hi Doctor.Is intake of Acitrom 2mg for brain Venous Thrombosis for more than a year dangerous? My dad had cerebral venous thrombosis twice in 2005 and 2013. He had a second time on last year march 2013 due to the stoppage of medicine(previously he was having Epsolin) . From that time he has been using Acitrom 3mg and now its dosage been reduced to 2mg. Last month the neurosurgeon(one who stopped the medicines previously) has asked to reduce the intake to twice a week, monday and thursday. And this month he told that this medicine has to be stopped. But in the same time, since this is his second time, the neurologist has strictly told that this medicine should be eaten throughout his lifetime. Neurosurgeon is telling this medicine might become poisonous to him if eaten more than a year. Am between the neurosurgeon and neurologist. Please help! Doctor: There are many people who take that drug for many years if not for their whole life. So unless the neurosurgeon has seen a side effect which you don't mention I don't agree with the statement that "it becomes poisonous". If on the other hand your father is experiencing a side effect or has other medical issue which render him prone to bleeding (cause main side effect is bleeding) then of course it's another matter and the risks should be weighed. It definitely doesn't make any sense to take the drug only twice a week.I think it was correct to have interrupted the drug the first time, usually treatment with blood thinner after cerebral venous thrombosis is interrupted after 6 months. However since the venous thrombosis reoccurred that means your father has a prothrombotic condition so continuing it now makes more sense to me.I see you mention Epsolin but that is a drug of a different class, it is used to prevent seizures while Acitrom is a blood thinner so I don't understand that part of your story, hope you gave us all the facts right. However if the rest is correct my opinion remains the one above.