Question spurred by TV show

[Karlynn]

I probably should have put this in Small Talk, but since it is about Coumadin, I thought I'd put it here.

My daughter and I have really gotten into watching the Showtime series Dexter. We've been watching it On Demand. Dexter is the hero of the show and is a serial killer. Yup, the hero. Anyway, the bad guy of this season is a serial killer as well and leaves all sorts of clues around for Dexter. One of the clues was a room full of blood. It had been around for hours and wasn't' clotting. The reason they gave was that it had the "anticoagulant Coumadin" had been put in it. (Yes, they said "anticoagulant" and not "blood thinner" YEA!)

However, doesn't Coumadin affect the blood by inhibiting the action of K in the liver? So you shouldn't be able to add it to blood out of the body to keep it from clotting - correct?

1 point for using "anticoagulant"
-.5 for messing up how it works

 

[Ross]

I hate damn forensic questions.

My answer, based on this statement is, it could only happen on TV.

The drug effectively competes for the same absorption sites within the liver needed for vitamin K uptake. Thus the levels of vitamin K within the liver decrease. Reduced amounts of clotting factors VII, IX, X, and II are produced, and the clotting action of the blood is progressively impaired.

 

[Cooker]

I probably should have put this in Small Talk, but since it is about Coumadin, I thought I'd put it here.

My daughter and I have really gotten into watching the Showtime series Dexter. We've been watching it On Demand. Dexter is the hero of the show and is a serial killer. Yup, the hero. Anyway, the bad guy of this season is a serial killer as well and leaves all sorts of clues around for Dexter. One of the clues was a room full of blood. It had been around for hours and wasn't' clotting. The reason they gave was that it had the "anticoagulant Coumadin" had been put in it. (Yes, they said "anticoagulant" and not "blood thinner" YEA!)

However, doesn't Coumadin affect the blood by inhibiting the action of K in the liver? So you shouldn't be able to add it to blood out of the body to keep it from clotting - correct?

1 point for using "anticoagulant"
-.5 for messing up how it works

Maybe, just maybe the victim was on anticoagulant...........the plot "thickens"

Tom
(all puns intended)

 

[Karlynn]

Maybe, just maybe the victim was on anticoagulant...........the plot "thickens"

Tom
(all puns intended)

The blood came from 5 different people - all hookers.

 

[Cooker]

The blood came from 5 different people - all hookers.

I was nowhere near the ares anyway I'm a lover not killer poor girls just trying to make a living.

 

[Guest]

Only on TV is correct.

Speaking of hookers. What if the Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss married Joe Water and decided to hyphenate the two last names?

 

[geebee]

Even if adding coumadin to blood would work like in the body, the blood would still be clotted after a few hours. Coumadin doesn't stop blood from clotting, only delays it. If it delayed it for hours, we would all be in big trouble.

Al, a big groan on the name joke. Swat.