scholarly journals How to define the relative contraindications to oral anticoagulant therapy

2017 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto F.E. Pedretti

<p>There is currently a lack of consensus on which anticoagulant therapy contraindications should be considered “absolute” and which should be considered “relative”. Guidelines do not clearly identify absolute and relative contraindications to anticoagulant therapy. Recent guidelines on AF of the European Society of Cardiology underline the relevance of several factors and their use in scores, leaving anyway space to the clinical judgment of the physician. A high bleeding risk score should generally not result per se in a contraindication to anticoagulant therapy. Rather, bleeding risk factors should be identified and treatable factors corrected. A combined use of a more hierarchical classification of the different bleeding risk factors and the risk scores probably represents the best approach to maximize the benefit of anticoagulant therapy in various clinical settings.</p>

2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Bo ◽  
Francesco Giannecchini ◽  
Martina Papurello ◽  
Enrico Brunetti

Oral anticoagulant therapy (OAT) with direct oral anticoagulant (DOACs) is the established treatment to reduce thromboembolic risk in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Bleeding risk scores are useful to identify and correct factors associated with bleeding risk in AF patients on OAT. However, the clinical scenario is more complex in patients with previous bleeding event, and the decision about whether and when starting or re-starting OAT in these patients remains a contentious issue. Major bleeding is associated with a subsequent increase in both short- and long-term mortality, and even minimal bleeding may have prognostic importance because it frequently leads to disruption of antithrombotic therapy. There is an unmet need for guidance on how to manage antithrombotic therapy after bleeding has occurred. While waiting for observational and randomized data to accrue, this paper offers a perspective on managing antithrombotic therapy after bleeding in older patients with AF.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-152
Author(s):  
Vincent A Pallazola ◽  
Rishi K Kapoor ◽  
Karan Kapoor ◽  
John W McEvoy ◽  
Roger S Blumenthal ◽  
...  

Non-valvular atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism anticoagulation risk assessment tools have been increasingly utilized to guide implementation and duration of anticoagulant therapy. Anticoagulation significantly reduces stroke and recurrent venous thromboembolism risk, but comes at the cost of increased risk of major and clinically relevant non-major bleeding. The decision for anticoagulation in high-risk patients is complicated by the fact that many risk factors associated with increased thromboembolic risk are simultaneously associated with increased bleeding risk. Traditional risk assessment tools rely heavily on age, sex, and presence of cardiovascular comorbidities, with newer tools additionally taking into account changes in risk factors over time and novel biomarkers to facilitate more personalized risk assessment. These tools may help counsel and inform patients about the risks and benefits of starting or continuing anticoagulant therapy and can identify patients who may benefit from more careful management. Although the ability to predict anticoagulant-associated hemorrhagic risk is modest, ischemic and bleeding risk scores have been shown to add significant value to therapeutic management decisions. Ultimately, further work is needed to optimally implement accurate and actionable risk stratification into clinical practice.


Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (21) ◽  
pp. 2311-2311
Author(s):  
Sarag Burgess ◽  
Natalie Crown ◽  
Martha L Louzada ◽  
George Dresser ◽  
Richard Kim ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 2311 Oral anticoagulant therapy (OAT) is effective in preventing thrombotic complications in atrial fibrillation (AF) and venous thrombosis but its use is associated with increased bleeding. Risk scores such as CHADS2 are used to predict thrombotic complications in patients with AF, but scores predicting bleeding are less studied. A number of bleeding risk scores (BRS) has been proposed, however they might have different predictive abilities and performance. Moreover, these scores aim to identify major bleeding (MB) but have not evaluated clinically relevant non-major bleeding (CRNMB). Recent guidelines advocate the use of scores to assess bleeding risk in patients with atrial fibrillation being considered for OAT despite studies suggesting their limited utility. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of 4 validated BRS for predicting MB and CRNMB. We conducted a retrospective, cohort study of consecutive patients enrolled in an academic OAT clinic between September 2008 and February 2011. Information regarding bleeding risk factors was collected for 4 BRS: Outpatient Bleeding Risk Index (OBRI; Beyth et al., Am J Med 1998), Contemporary Bleeding Risk Model (CBRM; Shireman et al., Chest 2006), HEMORR2HAGES (Gage et al. Am Heart J 2006), and HAS-BLED (Pisters et al., Chest 2010). Main outcomes were MB (Schulman J Thromb Haemost 2005) and a composite of MB + CRNMB (defined as overt bleeding that does not meet the criteria for MB but is associated with medical intervention, unscheduled contact, cessation of treatment, or associated with other discomfort (e.g. pain, impairment of daily activities). Incidence rates (IR) were calculated for each BRS and risk category. Correlation of bleeding risk categories among different BRS was assessed using the Kendall's tau-b coefficient. Predictive ability of each tool was evaluated using the C-statistic. Groups were compared using Fisher's exact, χ2, Mann-Whitney U, or Student's T tests. Hazard ratios (HR) for each score and risk category were estimated using Cox regression. We included 321 consecutive patients with a total follow-up of 319.2 patient-years. Mean age (SD) was 69.2 (13.6) years, 57% were males and 72.6% had AF. Overall IR for MB and MB + CRNMB were 3.7, and 11.2 events/100 patient-years, respectively. IRs for MB and MB + CRNMB separated by BRS and risk category are shown in Table 1 together with % of patients within each category. Overall, agreement among the 4 BRS was low to moderate with Kendall's tau-b coefficients ranging from 0.295 (OBRI vs CBRM) to 0.537 (HEMORR2HAGES vs HAS-BLED). C-statistics (95%CI) for predicting MB were 0.606 (0.435–0.777), 0.714 (0.548–0.879), 0.735 (0.583–0.886), and 0.672 (0.523–0.820), whereas those for predicting MB + CRNMB were 0.549 (0.452–0.645), 0.591 (0.489–0.692), 0.613 (0.517–0.709), and 0.587 (0.487–0.686) for OBRI, CBRM, HEMORR2HAGES and HAS-BLED, respectively. HRs for MB and MB + CRNMB are shown in Table 2. The best predictive ability for both MB and MB + CRNMB was for CBRM and HEMORR2HAGES. In conclusion, BRS classified bleeding risks differently. Predictive ability was moderate for MB and poor for MB + CRNMB. Overall, BRS are more helpful to identify patients at high bleeding risk, but they did not adequately identify patients at intermediate risk. Further studies assessing both MB and CRNMB are needed.Table 1.IR for bleeding eventsEvents/100 person-years (% patients in category)Score/OutcomeRisk CategoryMBLowIntermediateHigh    OBRI6.98 (16.2)2.63 (69.8)6.15 (14.0)    CBRM1.76 (70.1)6.62 (29.0)79.00 (0.9)    HEMORR2HAGES1.32 (48.9)3.71 (41.1)14.68 (10.0)    HAS-BLED0 (10.3)2.60 (60.1)7.38 (29.6)MB + CRNMB    OBRI9.3411.9714.68    CBRM9.6216.1279.00    HEMORR2HAGES8.2014.0620.94    HAS-BLED9.879.0718.91Table 2.HR for bleeding eventsMBMB+CRNBBleeding Risk ScoreHR95% CIpHR95% CIpOBRI    LowRefRef0.278RefRef0.798    Intermediate0.380.09–1.510.1691.290.45–3.690.636    High0.900.18–4.460.8951.520.44–5.220.503CBRM    LowRefRef<0.001RefRef0.007    Intermediate3.671.04–13.010.0441.790.92–3.480.085    High39.016.99–217.70<0.0018.712.02–37.520.004HEMORR2HAGES    LowRefRef0.008RefRef0.110    Intermediate2.770.54–14.280.2241.800.88–3.720.110    High10.942.12–56.420.0042.541.00–6.460.050HAS-BLED    LowRefRef0.212RefRef0.118    IntermediateNENE0.9490.970.28–3.290.959    HighNENE0.9431.910.56–6.520.302 Disclosures: Lazo-Langner: Pfizer Inc.: Honoraria; Leo Pharma: Honoraria.


1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (05) ◽  
pp. 682-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jos P J Wester ◽  
Harold W de Valk ◽  
Karel H Nieuwenhuis ◽  
Catherine B Brouwer ◽  
Yolanda van der Graaf ◽  
...  

Summary Objective: Identification of risk factors for bleeding and prospective evaluation of two bleeding risk scores in the treatment of acute venous thromboembolism. Design: Secondary analysis of a prospective, randomized, assessor-blind, multicenter clinical trial. Setting: One university and 2 regional teaching hospitals. Patients: 188 patients treated with heparin or danaparoid for acute venous thromboembolism. Measurements: The presenting clinical features, the doses of the drugs, and the anticoagulant responses were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis in order to evaluate prognostic factors for bleeding. In addition, the recently developed Utrecht bleeding risk score and Landefeld bleeding risk index were evaluated prospectively. Results: Major bleeding occurred in 4 patients (2.1%) and minor bleeding in 101 patients (53.7%). For all (major and minor combined) bleeding, body surface area ≤2 m2 (odds ratio 2.3, 95% Cl 1.2-4.4; p = 0.01), and malignancy (odds ratio 2.4, 95% Cl 1.1-4.9; p = 0.02) were confirmed to be independent risk factors. An increased treatment-related risk of bleeding was observed in patients treated with high doses of heparin, independent of the concomitant activated partial thromboplastin time ratios. Both bleeding risk scores had low diagnostic value for bleeding in this sample of mainly minor bleeders. Conclusions: A small body surface area and malignancy were associated with a higher frequency of bleeding. The bleeding risk scores merely offer the clinician a general estimation of the risk of bleeding. In patients with a small body surface area or in patients with malignancy, it may be of interest to study whether limited dose reduction of the anticoagulant drug may cause less bleeding without affecting efficacy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Fujino ◽  
H Yuzawa ◽  
T Kinoshita ◽  
M Shinohara ◽  
H Koike ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Oral anticoagulant therapy (OAT) is effective for preventing strokes in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. Currently, there is controversy regarding the discontinuation of OATs in patients with ablation procedures to eliminate AF. Aim We investigated the incidence of major bleeding and ischemic strokes/systemic embolisms in low-risk patients that discontinued OATs after successful AF ablation procedures. Methods Of 330 consecutive patients that underwent AF ablation procedures and were prescribed one of the direct oral anticoagulants or warfarin, 207 AF patients (158 men, mean age 61±11 years) who discontinued OATs three months after the procedure were enrolled. The average CHADS2 and HAS-BLED scores were 1.0±0.9 and 1.2±1.0, respectively, which meant that most patients had a low risk for strokes. Results During follow-up, 31 patients (15%) had recurrences of AF. Those patients underwent a re-ablation procedure and then re-discontinued their OATs three months after the session. During a 60±13 months follow-up, major bleeding was observed in five patients (2.4%) and was associated with a higher HAS-BLED score (2.2±0.4 vs. 1.1±1.0, P=0.027). In contrast, none of the patients experienced ischemic strokes/systemic embolisms. Conclusions This prospective study demonstrated that in patients with successful ablation procedures and low risk scores for AF management, OATs could be discontinued three months after the procedure. Unnecessary continuation of OATs may increase the incidence of major bleeding during the follow-up.


2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-127
Author(s):  
Alejandro Lazo-Langner ◽  
Michael J Kovacs ◽  
Martha Louzada

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
Katalin Makó

Abstract Cancer-associated thrombosis (CAT) is a major cause of death in oncological patients. The mechanisms of thrombogenesis in cancer patients are not fully established, and it seems to be multifactorial in origin. Also, several risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE) are present in these patients such as tumor site, stage, histology of cancer, chemotherapy, surgery, and immobilization. Anticoagulant treatment in CAT is challenging because of high bleeding risk during treatment and recurrence of VTE. Current major guidelines recommend low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs) for early and long-term treatment of VTE in cancer patients. In the past years, direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are recommended as potential treatment option for VTE and have recently been proposed as a new option for treating CAT. This manuscript will give a short overview of risk factors involved in the development of CAT and a summary on the recent recommendations and guidelines for treatment of VTE in patients with malignancies, discussing also some special clinical situations (e.g. renal impairment, catheter-related thrombosis, and thrombocytopenia).


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