Apixaban in non-valvular atrial fibrillation and treatment of venous thromboembolism: universal safety advantage in different categories of patients

This review presents data on the frequency of bleeding in direct comparison of apixaban and vitamin K antagonists in the context of prospective randomized controlled trials. According to ARISTOTLE, AUGUSTUS and AMPLIFY studies, Apixaban has an advantage over vitamin K antagonists in terms of safety regardless of the indications (prevention of cardioembolic complications in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, treatment of venous thromboembolic complications), which applies to all categories of patients studied, including those with increased risk of bleeding (elderly and old age, chronic renal failure, low body weight, arterial hypertension, the need for simultaneous use of one or two antiagregants, 3 or more points on the HAS-BLED scale). Moreover, the course of the accumulation curves of clinically significant bleedings indicates a constant increase in the number of patients who can prevent bleeding with prolonged use of apixaban instead of vitamin K antagonists.Prospective randomized clinical trials AMPLIFY and CARAVAGGIO show that in early treatment of proximal deep vein thrombosis of the lower limbs and/or thromboembolism of pulmonary arteries in patients without malignant tumors apixaban is safer than low-molecular-weight heparin enoxaparin, In long-term treatment of venous thromboembolic complications in patients with malignant tumors is not worse in safety than low-molecular-weight heparin dalteparin. Additional evidence for the safety of apixaban was obtained by comparing it with placebo in the prolonged treatment of venous thromboembolic complications in patients with low risk of serious bleeding in a prospective randomized controlled trial AMPLIFY-EXT.