546 publications from this institution
About 20% of patients with unprovoked venous thromboembolism have a recurrence within 2 years after the withdrawal of oral anticoagulant therapy. Extending anticoagulation prevents recurrences but is associated with increased bleeding. The benefit of aspirin for the prevention of recurrent venous thromboembolism is unknown.
This symposium took place during the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) Congress, 2022. Ajay Kakkar, Thrombosis Research Institute, London, UK, opened the symposium by highlighting the extent to which patients with cancer are affected by thrombotic disease. Subsequently, Mari Thomas, University College London, UK, described the current treatment options for patients with cancer-associated thrombosis (CAT). Thomas highlighted the current unmet needs faced by these patients, with the risk of bleeding continuing to be the main issue affecting anticoagulation treatment. Paula Bolton-Maggs, University of Manchester, UK, and UK Haemovigilance Scheme, Manchester, UK, gave an overview of Factor XI (FXI) inhibition and outlined why this factor is a potential attractive anticoagulation drug target. Multiple therapies targeting FXI are currently in development, with seven clinical trials published to date.1-7 Although there are some similarities between these agents, there are also many differences in terms of their administration route and frequency, the timing of onset of action, and methods of metabolism and excretion. Giancarlo Agnelli, University of Perugia, Italy, and Istituti Clinici Scientifici (ICS) Maugeri, Pavia-Milan, Italy, then described the importance of conducting clinical trials that are designed to address the unmet needs of patients with CAT. In particular, he highlighted the ongoing Phase III ASTER and MAGNOLIA studies that are aiming to demonstrate that the FXI inhibitor abelacimab is superior to standard of care treatments in terms of bleeding rates for patients with CAT, including those with gastrointestinal (GI) or genitourinary (GU) tumours. Concluding remarks were given by Gary Raskob, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, USA, who re-emphasised the unmet needs in the treatment of CAT, and the promise that FXI inhibitors hold for the future.
Early hemorrhagic transformation (HT) is a complication of ischemic stroke but its effect on patient outcome is unclear. The aims of this study were to assess: (1) the rate of early HT in patients admitted for ischemic stroke, (2) the correlation between early HT and functional outcome at 3 months, and (3) the risk factors for early HT.Consecutive patients with ischemic stroke were included in this prospective study in 4 study centers. Early HT was assessed by CT examination performed at day 5+/-2 after stroke onset. Study outcomes were 3-month mortality or disability. Disability was assessed using a modified Rankin score (> or = 3 indicating disabling stroke) by neurologists unaware of the occurrence of HT in the individual cases. Outcomes in patients with and without early HT were compared by chi(2) test. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors for HT.Among 1125 consecutive patients (median age 76.00 years), 98 (8.7%) had HT, 62 (5.5%) had hemorrhagic infarction, and 36 (3.2%) parenchymal hematoma. At 3 months, 455 patients (40.7%) were disabled or died. Death or disability was seen in 33 patients with parenchymal hematoma (91.7%), in 35 patients with hemorrhagic infarction (57.4%) as compared with 387 of the 1021 patients without HT (37.9%). At logistic regression analysis, parenchymal hematoma, but not hemorrhagic infarction, was independently associated with an increased risk for death or disability (OR 15.29; 95% CI 2.35 to 99.35). At logistic regression analysis, parenchymal hematoma was predicted by large lesions (OR 12.20, 95% CI 5.58 to 26.67), stroke attributable to cardioembolism (OR 5.25; 95% CI 2.27 to 12.14) or to other causes (OR 6.77; 95% CI 1.75 to 26.18), high levels of blood glucose (OR 1.01; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.01), and thrombolytic treatment (OR 3.54, 95% CI 1.04 to 11.95).Early HT occurs in about 9% of patients. Parenchymal hematoma, seen in about 3% of patients, is associated with an adverse outcome. Parenchymal hematoma was predicted by large lesions attributable to cardioembolism or other causes, high blood glucose, and treatment with thrombolysis.
Background: In this randomized trial, currently utilized standard treatments were compared with enoxaparin for the prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Methods: Enoxaparin (0.4 mg daily for 10 days) was started after 72 h from the onset of ICH. The primary outcome was symptomatic or asymptomatic deep venous thrombosis as assessed by ultrasound at the end of study treatment. The safety of enoxaparin was also assessed. We included the results of this study in a meta-analysis of all relevant studies comparing anticoagulants with standard treatments or placebo. Results: PREVENTIHS was prematurely stopped after the randomization of 73 patients, due to the low recruitment rate. The prevalence of any VTE at 10 days was 15.8% in the enoxaparin group and 20.0% in the control group (RR 0.79 [95% CI 0.29–2.12]); 2.6% of enoxaparin and 8.6% of standard therapy patients had severe bleedings (RR 0.31 [95% CI 0.03–2.82]). When these results were meta-analyzed with the results of the selected studies (4,609 patients; 194 from randomized trials), anticoagulants were associated with a nonsignificant reduction in any VTE (OR 0.81; 95% CI 0.43–1.51), in pulmonary embolism (OR 0.53; 95% CI, 0.17–1.60), and in mortality (OR 0.85; 95% CI 0.64–1.12) without increase in hematoma enlargement (OR 0.97; 95% CI, 0.31–3.04). Conclusions: In patients with acute ICH, the use of anticoagulants to prevent VTE was safe but the overall level of evidence was low due to the low number of patients included in randomized clinical trials.
Pulmonary embolism should be suspected in all patients who present with new or worsening dyspnea, chest pain, or sustained hypotension without a clear alternative cause. This review focuses on the optimal diagnostic strategy and management, according to the clinical presentation.
Post-discharge prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a challenging issue in patients hospitalised in Internal Medicine Units (IMUs). The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency and the factors associated with post-discharge prophylaxis for VTE in IMUs. Multi-centre, retrospective study including consecutive patients who were admitted for any cause and discharged from an IMU. Overall, 3,740 patients (mean age 74.1 ± 15.7 years) were included in the study at 38 IMUs in Italy. At discharge, the percentage of patients receiving pharmacological thromboprophylaxis was 16.0% (20.1% after excluding patients treated with anticoagulants for indications other than VTE prophylaxis). At multivariable analysis, history of ischaemic stroke, hypomobility ≥ 7 days, central venous catheter, ≥ 10 versus ≤ 5 days of hospital stay, use of corticosteroids, cancer, history of falls, availability of a caregiver, infections and age were significantly associated with thromboprophylaxis, while an inverse correlation was observed with concomitant anti-platelet drugs and platelet count < 70,000/mm3. Patients with a Padua Prediction Score ≥ 4 versus < 4 and with an IMPROVE bleeding score ≥ 7 versus < 7 more frequently received prophylaxis at discharge (31.2% vs. 10.6%, p < 0.0001, and 25.7% vs. 19.6%, p = 0.028, respectively). In this study, one in five patients discharged from an Italian IMU received prophylaxis for VTE. The perceived thrombotic risk is significantly related to the use of prophylaxis.
Long-term anticoagulation treatment with warfarin has been associated with a number of limitations in clinical practice and there is a need for more convenient long-term anticoagulation treatment. One of the non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants in development is edoxaban, a factor Xa inhibitor that is administered once daily. The pharmacological properties of edoxaban have various advantages in anticoagulant therapy. Edoxaban quickly reaches peak plasma concentrations in 1.5 h, has a half-life of 10–14 h, has relatively high bioavailability of 62% and exhibits highly selective, competitive, concentration-dependent inhibition of human factor Xa. The plasma concentrations of edoxaban are also closely correlated with suppression of thrombin generation and a range of platelet activation parameters (fragment 1+2, thrombin–antithrombin complex, and β-thromboglobulin), which edoxaban has been shown to rapidly inhibit. The anticoagulant activity of edoxaban is not affected by food intake or ethnicity and a number of drug–drug interaction studies have been performed. Co-administration of edoxaban with strong P-glycoprotein inhibitors, such as dronedarone, quinidine, and verapamil requires edoxaban dose-reduction by 50% to avoid the risk of over-exposure. The exposure of edoxaban may also increase in patients with a body weight ≤60 kg and moderate renal impairment. This meant a dose-reduction strategy in patients at risk of over-exposure was utilized in Phase III clinical studies. In conclusion, the pharmacological properties of edoxaban provide rapid and specific inhibition of factor Xa, which is closely related to plasma concentrations. Given the limitations with long-term warfarin therapy, once-daily edoxaban may provide a convenient long-term alternative for patients.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) and congestive heart failure often coexist due to their shared risk factors leading to potential worse outcome, particularly cerebrovascular events. The aims of this study were to calculate the rates of ischemic and severe bleeding events in ischemic stroke patients having both AF and reduced ejection fraction (rEF) (⩽40%), compared to ischemic stroke patients with AF but without rEF. We performed a retrospective analysis that drew data from prospective studies. The primary outcome was the composite of either ischemic (stroke or systemic embolism), or hemorrhagic events (symptomatic intracranial bleeding and severe extracranial bleeding). The cohort for this analysis comprised 3477 patients with ischemic stroke and AF, of which, 643 (18.3%) had also rEF. After a mean follow-up of 7.5 ± 9.1 months, 375 (10.8%) patients had 382 recorded outcome events, for an annual rate of 18.0%. While the number of primary outcome events in patients with rEF was 86 (13.4%), compared to 289 (10.2%) for the patients without rEF; on multivariable analysis rEF was not associated with the primary outcome (OR 1.25; 95% CI 0.84-1.88). At the end of follow-up, 321 (49.9%) patients with rEF were deceased or disabled (mRS ⩾3), compared with 1145 (40.4%) of those without rEF; on multivariable analysis, rEF was correlated with mortality or disability (OR 1.35; 95% CI 1.03-1.77). In patients with ischemic stroke and AF, the presence of rEF was not associated with the composite outcome of ischemic or hemorrhagic events over short-term follow-up but was associated with increased mortality or disability.
