Impact of anticoagulation on upper-gastrointestinal bleeding in cirrhosis. A retrospective multicenter study.

UNLABELLED: Recent studies have shown that liver cirrhosis (LC) behaves as an acquired hypercoagulable state with increased thrombotic risk. This is why anticoagulation therapy (AT) is now frequently used in these patients. Variceal bleeding is a severe complication of LC. It is unknown whether AT may impact the outcome of bleeding in these patients. Fifty-two patients on AT with upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) were evaluated. Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) and different cardiovascular disorders (CVDs) were the indication for AT in 14 and 38 patients, respectively. Overall, 104 patients with LC and UGIB not under AT matched for severity of LC, age, sex, source of bleeding, and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score served as controls. UGIB was attributed to portal hypertension (PH) in 99 (63%) patients and peptic/vascular lesions in 57 (37%). Twenty-six (17%) patients experienced 5-day failure; SOFA, source of UGIB, and PVT, but not AT, were independent predictors of 5-day failure. In addition, independent predictors of 6-week mortality, which was observed in 26 (11%) patients, were SOFA, Charlson Comorbidity index, and use of AT for a CVD. There were no differences between patients with/without AT in needs for rescue therapies, intensive care unit admission, transfusions, and hospital stay. CONCLUSIONS: Factors that impact the outcome of UGIB in patients under AT are degree of multiorgan failure and comorbidity, but not AT itself.

Thromboprophylaxis with the low-molecular-weight heparin bemiparin sodium in elderly medical patients in usual clinical practice: the ANCIANOS study.

BACKGROUND: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a preventable common disease in geriatric medical patients, causing substantial morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness and safety of bemiparin sodium thromboprophylaxis in non-surgical elderly medical patients (aged > or =65 years) bedridden for at least 4 days due to acute medical illness. This was a prospective, observational, multicentre cohort study carried out in patients treated in the setting of geriatric centres (GCs) or hospital-at-home units (HHUs). The study included 507 non-surgical elderly patients recruited from 49 Spanish centres who were administered subcutaneous bemiparin sodium (Hibor) 2500 IU/day or 3500 IU/day, depending on the degree of VTE risk - moderate or high, respectively. Rates of VTE, major and minor bleeding events, thrombocytopenia and deaths that occurred during the 3-month study period were extracted. RESULTS: Seventy-two percent of the subjects were women, and the mean (SD) age was 82 (8) years. Overall, 70.6% (358 patients) were treated in GCs and 29.4% (149 patients) in HHUs. The main causes of immobilization were: heart failure (30.4%), acute infectious disease (29.8%), acute respiratory insufficiency (19.9%), rheumatological disease (i.e. osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis) [15.4%] and acute cerebrovascular disease (14.4%). Most of the patients (63%) had a high VTE risk and received the highest dose of prophylactic bemiparin sodium (3500 IU/day) for a mean 33 days. The incidence of VTE was 0.6% (three distal deep vein thromboses confirmed by Doppler ultrasound). No cases of pulmonary embolism were reported. There were two (0.4%) major bleeding events, eight (1.6%) minor bleeding events and seven (1.4%) cases of mild thrombocytopenia; no cases of moderate or severe thrombocytopenia were reported. Twenty-four patients (4.7%) developed mild to moderate injection site complications. Twenty-one patients (4.1%) died, but all from causes not related to study medication. CONCLUSIONS: Bemiparin sodium thromboprophylaxis for 4-5 weeks was associated with a low incidence of VTE and a low rate of bleeding and other complications in non-surgical elderly patients at risk of VTE, treated either in GCs or in HHUs, in standard clinical practice.