Apixaban role in the treatment of venous thromboembolic complications in patients with active cancer

The relationship of venous thromboembolic complications (VTEC) to cancer is well known. Modern recommendations for the treatment of VTEC in patients with cancer suggest treatment with subcutaneous injections of LMWH in the first 6 months. The emergence of evidence of comparable efficacy and safety of four OACs (dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban and edoxaban) with traditional LMWH treatment and further transition to VKA led to their approval for VTEC treatment. But the efficacy and safety of OACs compared to long-term LMWH treatment in VTEC and cancer patients until recently was limited to single randomized studies (Hokusai VTE Cancer and SELECT-D), in which edoxaban and rivaroxaban were compared to dalteparin. The results were close: the recurrence rate of vTEC in oAC groups was lower than in those receiving dalteparin, but the number of bleedings was higher, mainly due to gastrointestinal bleeding. In March 2020, the results of a prospective randomized open Caravaggio study were published to demonstrate that the results of prescription of oral apixaban in order to prevent relapse of vTEC in patients with cancer-associated vTEC will not be worse than those of subcutaneous LMWH injections, and will not cause an increase in major bleedings. the study results showed that relapses of VTEC in the apixaban group were 5.6% and in the dalteparin group 7.9% (RA 0.63; 95% CI [0.371.07]; P < 0.001 for «not worse»; P = 0.09 for «better»). Heavy bleeding was observed in 3.8% of cases in the apixaban group and in 4.0% of patients receiving dalteparin (RA 0.82; 95% CI [0.40-1.69]; P = 0.60). Large gastrointestinal bleedings during treatment were recorded in 11 patients (1,9%) in the apixaban group and in 10 patients (1,7%) receiving dalteparin. oral apixaban proved to be no worse than subcutaneous dalteparin injections in the treatment of VTEC in cancer patients. Unlike studies with rivaroxaban and edoxaban, there was no increase in risk of large bleeding, including from the gastrointestinal tract, in patients receiving apixaban.

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