Abstract
Introduction
The evaluation and management of patients who sustain recurrent thromboembolic events
while taking therapeutic anticoagulation have not been well characterized; moreover,
there has been no systematic review or randomized trial focused on treating patients
with recurrent deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) during anticoagulant
treatment. Therefore, we developed a pilot trial to compare rivaroxaban plus aspirin
versus acenocoumarol in patients with recurrent venous thromboembolism despite ongoing
anticoagulation with rivaroxaban.
Materials and methods
The study was a multicenter, randomized clinical trial. We randomly assigned patients
with objectively documented recurrent venous thromboembolism to receive rivaroxaban
(20 mg once a day) plus aspirin (300 mg once a day) or an adjusted dose of acenocoumarol.
The study was designed to evaluate the incidence of recurrent thromboembolic events
(recurrent ipsilateral or contralateral DVT, PE, ischemic stroke, and myocardial infarction)
and hemorrhagic events.
Results
A total of 58 patients were randomized: 28 were allocated to the rivaroxaban plus
aspirin group and 30 to the acenocoumarol group. After 90 days of follow-up, three
recurrent thromboembolic events (primary outcome) occurred in the acenocoumarol group
– two DVTs and one ischemic stroke – and zero events in the rivaroxaban plus aspirin
group (risk ratio [RR] 0.15; 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.008–2.83; P = 0.20). Minor bleeding occurred in five patients in the acenocoumarol group and
zero in the rivaroxaban plus aspirin group (RR 0.09; 95 % CI 0.005–1.68; p = 0.10). There was one non-fatal gastrointestinal major bleed in the rivaroxaban
plus aspirin group.
Conclusions
In this pilot study, there were no significant differences in any outcome assessed;
however, recurrent thromboembolic events and minor bleeding events occurred numerically
less frequently in the rivaroxaban plus aspirin group. These data suggest the need
to carry out more extensive randomized studies with sufficient statistical power to
clarify these results.
Graphical abstract
Graphical Abstract
Abbreviations:
DVT (deep vein thrombosis), PE (pulmonary embolism), PC (protein C), PS (protein S), AT (antithrombin), Plg (plasminogen), APS (antiphospholipid syndrome), ASH (American Society of Hematology), DOACs (direct oral anticoagulants), VKAs (vitamin K antagonists), LMWH (low-molecular-weight heparin)Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 20, 2022
Accepted:
December 15,
2022
Received in revised form:
December 9,
2022
Received:
August 2,
2022
Identification
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