Oral Rivaroxaban As Prevention For Symptomatic Venous Thromboembolism

Main Category: Blood / Hematology
Article Date: 05 Jun 2009 - 1:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

In this study data from three studies comparing the new oral anticoagulant rivaroxaban against enoxaparin injected subcutaneously was assessed and conclusions drawn about effectiveness of both types of treatment.

Rivaroxaban was started six to eight hours after surgery, whereas enoxaparin was injected the previous evening and then at six to eight hours following wound closure. Thereafter, both were administered every 24 hours in a double-dummy fashion: all patients received either placebo injections or placebo tablets.

The results showed that of 9581 patients in the study across 487 centres in 38 countries rivaroxaban significantly reduced the incidence of symptomatic venous thromoembolism compared with enoxaparin (0.4% and 0.8% respectively) without an increase in the risk of major bleeding in patients undergoing elective hip and knee replacement surgery.

Read the full text article.

Source
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery