Question

What are anticoagulants? What are the practical applications of anticoagulants, such as heparin, in Medicine?

Answer 1

Anticoagulants are commonly reffered to as blood thinners, are chemical based drugs that prevent or reduce the coagulation of blood i.r prolonging the clotting time. They are given to people at ahigh risk of getting clots, to reduce their chances of developing seriuos conditions such as heart attack and strokes.

Heparin also known as unfractionated Heparin(UFH), is a medication which is used as an anticoagulant.

It's Chemical formula is C₁₂H₁₉NO₂₀S₃ .

Specifically it is used to treat and prevent deep vein Thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and arterial thromboembolism. Also used in the treatment of unstable angina and heart attacks.

It may also used to prevent blot clots during surgery, during dialysis, blood tranfusions, when collecting blood samples, etc.