Advantages • Proven efficacy in prevention and treatment of thromboembolic disease • Oral Dosing • Quick reversal of anticoagulant effect • Easily available antidote Disadvantages • Narrow therapeutic range • Requires monitoring with frequent blood tests • Frequent INR fluctuations with a high percentage of readings outside the therapeutic range • Requires a high level of patient compliance especially with monitoring • Risks of spontaneous bleeding including hemorrhagic stroke • Slow onset of the full therapeutic effect • Numerous food and drug interactions • High rates of treatment discontinuation

Table 1: Advantages and disadvantages of warfarin therapy.