Effectiveness and safety of apixaban therapy in daily-care patients with atrial fibrillation: results from the Dresden NOAC Registry.

The effectiveness and safety of apixaban for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (SPAF) demonstrated in ARISTOTLE needs to be confirmed in daily care. To evaluate effectiveness and safety of apixaban therapy in SPAF patients in daily care, we used data from an ongoing, prospective, non-interventional registry of more than 3000 patients on novel oral anticoagulants in daily care. Between 1 December 2012 and 31 August 2015, 514 patients receiving apixaban were enrolled. During a mean follow-up of 803.5 ± 228.9 days, the combined endpoint of stroke/transient ischaemic attack/systemic embolism occurred at a rate of 2.4/100 patient-years in the intention-to-treat analysis (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.5-3.5) and at 1.8/100 patient-years (95% CI 1.0-2.8) in the on-treatment analysis (events within 3 days after last intake). On-treatment rates were numerically lower for patients selected for 5 mg apixaban (n = 404) twice daily [BID] compared with the 110 patients selected for 2.5 mg BID [1.6 (95% CI 0.8 to 2.7) vs. 2.6/100 patient-years (95% CI 0.8-6.1)]. On treatment, major bleeding occurred at a rate of 2.8/100 patient-years and significantly more often in patients receiving the 2.5 mg BID dose compared with the 5 mg BID dose (5.3 vs. 2.2/100 patient-years). Apixaban treatment discontinuation occurred in a total of 122 patients during follow-up (12.5/100 patient-years in Kaplan-Meier analysis). Our data contribute to the confirmation of effectiveness and relative safety of apixaban in daily-care patients. Furthermore, apixaban discontinuation rates were considerably lower than those reported for vitamin K antagonists.

Rates, management, and outcome of rivaroxaban bleeding in daily care: results from the Dresden NOAC registry.

Worldwide, rivaroxaban is increasingly used for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation and treatment of venous thromboembolism, but little is known about rivaroxaban-related bleeding complications in daily care. Using data from a prospective, noninterventional oral anticoagulation registry of daily care patients (Dresden NOAC registry), we analyzed rates, management, and outcome of rivaroxaban-related bleeding. Between October 1, 2011, and December 31, 2013, 1776 rivaroxaban patients were enrolled. So far, 762 patients (42.9%) reported 1082 bleeding events during/within 3 days after last intake of rivaroxaban (58.9% minor, 35.0% of nonmajor clinically relevant, and 6.1% major bleeding according to International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis definition). In case of major bleeding, surgical or interventional treatment was needed in 37.8% and prothrombin complex concentrate in 9.1%. In the time-to-first-event analysis, 100-patient-year rates of major bleeding were 3.1 (95% confidence interval 2.2-4.3) for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation and 4.1 (95% confidence interval 2.5-6.4) for venous thromboembolism patients, respectively. In the as-treated analysis, case fatality rates of bleeding leading to hospitalizations were 5.1% and 6.3% at days 30 and 90 after bleeding, respectively. Our data indicate that, in real life, rates of rivaroxaban-related major bleeding may be lower and that the outcome may at least not be worse than that of major vitamin K antagonist bleeding, and probably better. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as identifier #NCT01588119.

Patient-reported treatment satisfaction and budget impact with rivaroxaban vs. standard therapy in elective cardioversion of atrial fibrillation: a post hoc analysis of the X-VeRT trial.

AIMS: We compared patient-reported treatment satisfaction and the economic impact of anticoagulation therapy with rivaroxaban vs. vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation undergoing elective cardioversion procedures. METHODS AND RESULTS: The current study is a post hoc analysis of the prospective, multicentre X-VeRT (EXplore the efficacy and safety of once-daily oral riVaroxaban for the prevention of caRdiovascular events in subjects with non-valvular aTrial fibrillation scheduled for cardioversion) trial. Patient-reported treatment satisfaction with anticoagulation therapy was assessed using the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication version II in seven countries (US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands). An economic model was also developed to estimate the impact of postponed cardioversions for two countries (UK and Italy). This model estimated the total costs of cardioversion, taking into consideration the costs for drug therapy (including extended treatment duration due to cardioversion postponement), international normalized ratio monitoring of VKAs, the cardioversion procedure, and rescheduling the procedure. These costs were linked to the respective X-VeRT study data to estimate the total costs. Patients receiving rivaroxaban in the delayed cardioversion group had significantly higher scores for Convenience, Effectiveness, and Global satisfaction (81.74 vs. 65.78; 39.41 vs. 32.95; and 82.07 vs. 66.74, respectively; P < 0.0001). Based on the total patient population included in the treatment satisfaction substudy (n = 632) in the delayed cardioversion group in X-VeRT, the use of rivaroxaban was estimated to result in a saving of £421 and €360 per patient in UK and Italian settings, respectively. CONCLUSION: The use of rivaroxaban in the setting of cardioversion resulted in greater patient satisfaction and cost savings, compared with that of VKA.

Drug persistence with rivaroxaban therapy in atrial fibrillation patients-results from the Dresden non-interventional oral anticoagulation registry.

AIMS: Worldwide, rivaroxaban is increasingly used for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (SPAF) but little is known about the rates of or reasons for rivaroxaban discontinuations in daily care. Using data from a prospective, non-interventional oral anticoagulation (NOAC) registry, we analysed rivaroxaban treatment persistence. METHODS AND RESULTS: Persistence with rivaroxaban in SPAF was assessed in an ongoing, prospective, non-interventional registry of >2600 NOAC patients from daily care using the Kaplan-Meier time-to-first-event analysis. Reasons for and management of rivaroxaban discontinuation were assessed. Potential baseline risk factors for treatment discontinuation were evaluated using Cox regression analysis. Between October 2011 and April 2014, 1204 rivaroxaban SPAF patients were enrolled [39.3% switched from vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) and 60.7% newly treated patients]. Of these, 223 patients (18.5%) stopped rivaroxaban during follow-up (median 544 days), which translates into a discontinuation rate of 13.6 (95% CI 11.8-15.4) per 100 patient-years. Most common reasons for treatment discontinuations were bleeding complications (30% of all discontinuations), followed by other side-effects (24.2%) and diagnosis of stable sinus rhythm (9.9%). A history of chronic heart failure (HR 1.43; 95% CI 1.09-1.87; P = 0.009) or diabetes (HR 1.39; 95% CI 1.06-1.82; P = 0.018) were the only statistically significant baseline risk factors for rivaroxaban discontinuation. After discontinuation of rivaroxaban, patients received antiplatelet therapy (31.8%), VKA (24.2%), another NOAC (18.4%), heparin (9.9%), or nothing (15.7%). CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that overall persistence with rivaroxaban therapy is high, with a discontinuation rate of ∼15% in the first year of treatment and few additional discontinuations thereafter.

Pooled Analysis of Rivaroxaban therapy for acute venous thromboembolism in FIRST registry, SWIVTER and DRESDEN NOAC registry.

Background: The direct factor Xa inhibitor rivaroxaban is approved for the treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE), based on the results of large phase III trials. Objectives: To confirm rivaroxaban's effectiveness and safety in routine clinical care of patients with VTE. Methods: Data were obtained from prospective, noninterventional registries: the FIRST registry (United Kingdom), DRESDEN NOAC registry (Germany), and SWIVTER (Switzerland). Baseline characteristics of these registries and effectiveness and safety outcome rates for the FIRST and DRESDEN NOAC registries were compared. Results: A total of 1841 rivaroxaban-treated patients with acute VTE (57.9% male, 76.6% deep vein thrombosis [DVT]; 23.4% pulmonary embolism ± DVT; median age, 61 years) were included: 1217 from the FIRST registry, 418 from the DRESDEN NOAC registry, and 206 from SWIVTER. Median time between VTE diagnosis and initiation of rivaroxaban was 1.4 ± 1.81 days (25th-75th percentile 1-1; range, 0-15 days). On-treatment outcome rates for the FIRST and DRESDEN NOAC registries were 0.74 per 100 patient-years (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.35-1.54) versus 0.96 per 100 patient-years (95% CI, 0.46-2.01) for VTE recurrence; 1.16 per 100 patient years (95% CI, 0.64-2.09) versus 2.51 per 100 patient-years (95% CI, 1.58-3.98) for ISTH major bleeding and 1.69 per 100 patient-years (95% CI, 1.21-2.35) versus 1.73 per 100 patient-years (95% CI, 1.27-2.36) for all-cause mortality (intention-to-treat analysis), respectively. Conclusion: Overall treatment outcomes were consistent with the results of the phase III rivaroxaban trials in VTE treatment, indicating that the use of rivaroxaban offers acceptable treatment results also in routine care. However, we observed significant differences in patient characteristics and management patterns across Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Germany, limiting direct comparisons of unadjusted outcome event rates between registries.

Relation between the frequency of CD34⁺ bone marrow derived circulating progenitor cells and the number of diseased coronary arteries in patients with myocardial ischemia and diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Bone marrow-derived circulating progenitor cells (BM-CPCs) in patients with coronary heart disease are impaired with respect to number and mobilization. However, it is unknown whether the mobilization of BM-CPCs depends on the number of diseased coronary arteries. Therefore, in our study, we analysed the correlation between the diseased coronary arteries and the frequency of CD34/45+ BM-CPCs in peripheral blood (PB) in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD). METHODS: The frequency of CD34/45+ BM-CPCs was measured by flow cytometry in 120 patients with coronary 1 vessel (IHD1, n = 40), coronary 2 vessel (IHD2, n = 40), coronary 3 vessel disease (IHD3, n = 40) and in a control group of healthy subjects (n = 40). There was no significant difference of the total number of cardiovascular risk factors between IHD groups, beside diabetes mellitus (DM), which was significantly higher in IHD3 group compared to IHD2 and IHD1 groups. RESULTS: The frequency of CD34/45+ BM-CPCs was significantly reduced in patients with IHD compared to the control group (CD34/45+; p < 0.001). The frequency of BM-CPCs was impaired in patients with IHD3 compared to IHD1 (CD34/45+; p < 0.001) and to IHD2 (CD34/45+; p = 0.001). But there was no significant difference in frequency of BM-CPCs between the patients with IHD2 and IHD1 (CD34/45+; p = 0.28). In a subgroup we observed a significant negative correlation between levels of hemoglobin AIc (HbAIc) and the frequency of BM-CPCs (CD34/45+; p < 0.001, r = -0.8). CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of CD34/45+ BM-CPCs in PB is impaired in patients with IHD. This impairment may augment with an increased number of diseased coronary arteries. Moreover, the frequency of CD34/45+ BM-CPCs in ischemic tissue is further impaired by diabetes in patients with IHD.

Improvement of cardiac function by intracoronary freshly isolated bone marrow cells transplantation in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND: We analyzed in the present study the influence of intracoronary autologous freshly isolated bone marrow cells transplantation (BMCs-Tx) on cardiac function in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). METHODS AND RESULTS: The 32 patients with AMI were enrolled in this prospective nonrandomized study to either freshly isolated BMC-Tx or to a control group without cell therapy. Global left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and the size of infarct area were determined by left ventriculography. We observed in patients with autologous freshly isolated BMCs-Tx at 6 months follow up a significant reduction of infarct size as compared to control group. Moreover, we found a significant increase of LVEF as well as infarct wall movement velocity at 6 months follow up in cell therapy group as compared to control group. In the control group there was no significant difference of LVEF, infarct size and infarct wall movement velocity between baseline and 6 months after AMI. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate for the first time that intracoronary transplantation of autologous freshly isolated BMCs by use of a point of care system is safe, and may lead to improvement of cardiac function in patients with AMI.

Impaired mobilization of CD133(+) bone marrow-derived circulating progenitor cells with an increased number of diseased coronary arteries in ischemic heart disease patients with diabetes.

BACKGROUND: The influence of the number of diseased coronary arteries on the mobilization of CD133/45(+) bone marrow-derived circulating progenitor cells (BM-CPCs) in peripheral blood (PB) in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) was analyzed. METHODS AND RESULTS: Mobilization of CD133/45(+) BM-CPCs by flow cytometry was measured in 120 patients with coronary 1 vessel (IHD1, n=40), coronary 2 vessel (IHD2, n=40), and coronary 3 vessel disease (IHD3, n=40), and in a control group (n=40). The mobilization of CD133/45(+) BM-CPCs was significantly reduced in patients with IHD compared to the control group (P<0.001). The mobilization of CD133/45(+) BM-CPCs was impaired in patients with IHD3 compared to IHD1 (P<0.001) and to IHD2 (P<0.001). But there was no significant difference in mobilization of CD133/45(+) BM-CPCs between the patients with IHD2 and IHD1 (P=0.35). Moreover, we found significantly reduced CD133/45(+) cell mobilization in patients with a high SYNTAX-Score (SS) compared to a low SS (P<0.001) and an intermediate SS (P<0.001). In subgroup analyzes, we observed a significantly negative correlation between levels of hemoglobin A(1c) and the mobilization of CD133/45(+) BM-CPCs (P=0.001, r=-0.6). CONCLUSIONS: The mobilization of CD133/45(+) BM-CPCs in PB is impaired in patients with IHD. This impairment might augment with increased number of diseased coronary arteries. Moreover, mobilization of CD133/45(+) BM-CPCs in ischemic tissue is further impaired by diabetes in patients with IHD.

Healthcare resource use in XALIA: A subgroup analysis of a non-interventional study of rivaroxaban versus standard anticoagulation for deep vein thrombosis.

INTRODUCTION: The non-interventional XALIA study compared the safety and effectiveness of rivaroxaban with standard anticoagulation for the treatment of venous thromboembolism in routine clinical practice. This substudy assessed the effect of treatment with rivaroxaban on healthcare resource use, hospital length of stay (LOS) and frequency of hospitalisation. METHODS: In XALIA, patients aged ≥18 years scheduled to receive ≥3 months of rivaroxaban or standard anticoagulation treatment for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) were eligible. Treatment decisions were at the physician's discretion. Healthcare resource use, including hospital admission for the index DVT and initial LOS, was documented. The main analyses in this substudy were conducted in a 1:1 propensity score-matched set (PMS) of patients, with adjustment for cancer at baseline. RESULTS: In the PMS analysis, 1124 rivaroxaban-treated patients and 1124 standard anticoagulation-treated patients were included. Baseline characteristics were similar between groups (mean age 60.8 years vs. 61.2 years, DVT only rates of 89.7% vs. 90.2% and cancer rates of 8.4% vs. 8.5%, respectively). Of these, 433/1124 (38.5%) rivaroxaban-treated patients and 438/1124 (39.0%) standard anticoagulation-treated patients were hospitalised. Index event LOS in the PMS analysis was a least-squares mean of 2.6 days shorter with rivaroxaban vs. standard anticoagulation (5.4 vs. 8.0 days; geometric means ratio = 0.67 [95% confidence interval 0.61-0.74, P < 0.001]). CONCLUSIONS: In XALIA, hospital LOS was shorter with rivaroxaban than with standard anticoagulation, consistent with the phase III study results. DVT treatment with rivaroxaban in routine clinical practice may reduce the cost per patient vs. standard anticoagulation.

Venous thromboembolism therapy with rivaroxaban in daily-care patients: Results from the Dresden NOAC registry.

The effectiveness and safety of acute venous thromboembolism (VTE) treatment with rivaroxaban, demonstrated in phase-III trials, needs to be confirmed in daily care. To confirm the positive results of phase-III VTE treatment trials with rivaroxaban in daily care, we used data from the ongoing, prospective, non-interventional Dresden NOAC Registry. For this analysis, only patients with acute VTE who started rivaroxaban within 14days after diagnosis of VTE and who were enrolled within these 14days were evaluated with regard to patient characteristics, treatment persistence and clinical outcomes. Between December 1st 2011 and 30th September 2016, 418 patients with acute VTE and rivaroxaban treatment were enrolled. During rivaroxaban treatment (median rivaroxaban exposure 206d; median follow-up 862d) rates of recurrent VTE and ISTH major bleeding were 1.9% and 3.8%, respectively. At 6months. 58.3% of patients were still taking rivaroxaban, 28.2% had a scheduled end of treatment, 7.2% were switched to other anticoagulants, 1.7% had withdrawn their consent and the remaining 3.6% of patients had unplanned complete discontinuation of anticoagulation. After permanent discontinuation of rivaroxaban, 20 patients experienced a recurrent VTE (7 pulmonary embolism±deep vein thrombosis, 13 deep vein thrombosis) with a mean time between last intake of rivaroxaban and VTE recurrence of 374.3±247.6days (range 28-927d). In daily care patients with acute VTE, rivaroxaban demonstrated high effectiveness with acceptable major bleeding rates. Initial dosing was according to label in over 90% of patients and persistence to rivaroxaban therapy was adequate with low rates of unplanned complete discontinuation.

Patient-Reported Treatment Experience with Oral Rivaroxaban: Results from the Noninterventional XALIA Study of Deep-Vein Thrombosis.

For venous thromboembolism (VTE) treatment, patient satisfaction was shown to improve with rivaroxaban versus standard anticoagulation in the phase III EINSTEIN DVT and EINSTEIN PE trials. This substudy of the prospective, noninterventional XALIA study of rivaroxaban for deep-vein thrombosis treatment assessed if this was also observed in routine clinical practice. Patients enrolled in XALIA who received rivaroxaban or standard anticoagulation treatment were eligible for inclusion in this substudy. Treatment decisions were at the physician's discretion. Patients completed the 17-item Anti-Clot Treatment Scale (ACTS, comprising a 12-item Burdens subscale, a 3-item Benefits subscale and one global item per subscale) during follow-up. The propensity score-matched set (PMS) was used for the main analysis; the adjusted safety analysis (ASAF) set was used for confirmatory purposes. Analyses by follow-up visit and subgroup, including age, sex, and previous VTE, were also conducted. The PMS-ACTS analysis included 458 rivaroxaban-treated and 434 standard anticoagulation-treated patients. Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics were generally similar across treatment arms. ACTS Burdens scores significantly improved with rivaroxaban versus standard anticoagulation (least-squares mean difference of 2.4 ± 0.4 points; p < 0.0001); ACTS Benefits scores were numerically higher with rivaroxaban (least-squares mean difference of 0.2 ± 0.1 points; p = 0.2). Similar findings occurred across follow-up visits and subgroups. Results were confirmed in the ASAF-ACTS analysis. Consistent with phase III analyses, rivaroxaban was associated with improved ACTS Burdens scores; ACTS Benefits scores numerically favored rivaroxaban, although without reaching statistical significance.

Prevention of thromboembolic complications in patients with superficial-vein thrombosis given rivaroxaban or fondaparinux: the open-label, randomised, non-inferiority SURPRISE phase 3b trial.

BACKGROUND: Superficial-vein thrombosis can lead to deep-vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Rivaroxaban, an oral factor Xa inhibitor, might simplify treatment compared with fondaparinux because it does not require daily subcutaneous injection and is cheaper. We compared efficacy outcomes in patients with superficial-vein thrombosis and additional risk factors given either rivaroxaban or fondaparinux to assess whether rivaroxaban is non-inferior to fondaparinux in the prevention of thromboembolic complications. METHODS: In this open-label, masked endpoint, randomised, non-inferiority phase 3b trial, we recruited patients aged 18 years or older with symptomatic superficial-vein thrombosis from 27 sites (academic, community hospitals, and specialist practices) in Germany. We randomly assigned patients (1:1) to receive 10 mg oral rivaroxaban or 2·5 mg subcutaneous fondaparinux once a day for 45 days. Patients were eligible if they had symptomatic thrombosis (at least 5 cm in a supragenual superficial-vein segment) and at least one additional risk factor (older than 65 years, male sex, previous venous thromboembolism, cancer, autoimmune disease, thrombosis of non-varicose veins). Main exclusion criteria were: symptoms for longer than 3 weeks, thrombus within 3 cm of the sapheno-femoral junction, indication for full-dose anticoagulation therapy, and substantial hepatic or renal impairment. Randomisation was done with a central block randomisation process. The primary efficacy outcome was a composite of symptomatic deep-vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, progression or recurrence of superficial vein-thrombosis, and all-cause mortality at 45 days in the per-protocol population (all randomly assigned patients without major protocol violations). We used a non-inferiority margin of 4·5% (absolute difference between rivaroxaban and fondaparinux). The main safety outcome was major bleeding. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01499953. FINDINGS: Between April 25, 2012, and Feb 18, 2016, 485 patients were enrolled in the study and 472 were randomly assigned to the rivaroxaban group (n=236) or the fondaparinux group (n=236). In the 435 patients included in the per-protocol analysis set, the primary efficacy outcome occurred in seven (3%) of 211 patients (95% CI 1·6-6·7) in the rivaroxaban group and in four (2%) of 224 patients (0·7-4·5) in the fondaparinux group (hazard ratio [HR] 1·9, 95% CI 0·6-6·4; p=0·0025 for non-inferiority) at day 45. There were no major bleeds in either group. There was one death in the rivaroxaban group; this patient died from cardiogenic shock on day 50 after a type A aortic dissection, not related to treatment. INTERPRETATION: Rivaroxaban was non-inferior to fondaparinux for treatment of superficial-vein thrombosis in terms of symptomatic deep-vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, progression or recurrence of superficial vein-thrombosis, and all-cause mortality, and was not associated with more major bleeding. Therefore, rivaroxaban could offer patients with symptomatic superficial-vein thrombosis a less burdensome and less expensive oral treatment option instead of a more expensive subcutaneous injection. FUNDING: GWT-TUD and Bayer Vital.

Effectiveness and safety of rivaroxaban therapy in daily-care patients with atrial fibrillation. Results from the Dresden NOAC Registry.

The effectiveness and safety of rivaroxaban for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (SPAF) demonstrated in ROCKET AF needs to be confirmed in daily care. To evaluate effectiveness and safety of rivaroxaban therapy in SPAF patients in daily care, we used data from an ongoing, prospective, non-interventional registry of more than 2700 patients on novel oral anticoagulants in daily care. Between October 1, 2011 and February 28, 2013, a total of 1204 SPAF patients receiving rivaroxaban were enrolled. During a mean follow-up of 796.2 ± 207.3 days, the combined endpoint of stroke/transient ischaemic attack/systemic embolism occurred at a rate of 2.03/100 patient-years in the intention-to-treat analysis (95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.5-2.7) and at 1.7/100 patient-years in the on-treatment analysis (events within 3 days after last intake). On-treatment rates were higher in patients selected for 15 mg rivaroxaban (n=384) once daily [OD] compared with the 820 patients selected for 20 mg OD (2.7 [95 % CI 1.6-4.2] vs 1.25/100 patient-years [95 % CI 0.8-1.9]). On treatment, major bleeding occurred at a rate of 3.0/100 patient-years and significantly more often in patients receiving the 15 mg OD dose compared with the 20 mg OD dose (4.5 vs 2.4/100 patient-years). Rivaroxaban treatment discontinuation occurred in a total of 277 patients during follow-up (12.0/100 patient-years in Kaplan-Meier analysis). Our data contribute to the confirmation of effectiveness and relative safety of rivaroxaban in daily-care patients. Furthermore, rivaroxaban discontinuation rates were considerably lower than those reported for vitamin K antagonists.

Transient Elastography for the Detection of Liver Damage in Patients with HIV.

INTRODUCTION: Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is effective and well tolerated, but hepatotoxicity is relatively common. Different non-invasive methods are available for detecting liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease. METHODS: Patients who were HIV positive and who had given their informed consent were included in this cross-sectional study. Transient elastography [FibroScan(®) (FS); Echosens], serum hyaluronic acid (HA), Hepascore (HS), Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4), and aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI) were used to detect liver fibrosis in the patients. The agreement between FS and the other methods was evaluated. To observe the hepatotoxicity of HAART, patients with chronic viral hepatitis B or C were excluded by detection of hepatitis B surface antigens and hepatitis C virus antibodies. Patients with chronic alcohol intake were excluded by measuring carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT). FS correlation with the duration of therapy with protease inhibitors (PI), nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI), and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI) was evaluated. RESULTS: Overall, 203 patients were included in the study. The agreement between the different tests ranged from 64% to 77%: FS vs. HA, 72%; FS vs. APRI, 74%; FS vs. HS, 77%; and FS vs. FIB-4, 64%. After excluding patients with chronic hepatitis B or C and elevated CDT, 153 patients remained for studying the hepatotoxicity of HAART. A significant correlation of FS with the duration of medication intake was observed for PIs (P = 0.026; r = 0.18). NRTI and NNRTI therapy duration did not correlate with FS. CONCLUSIONS: The agreement between FS and other tests ranged from 64% to 77%. A significant correlation was found between liver stiffness and the duration of therapy with PIs, which underlines the known hepatotoxicity of this substance group. FUNDING: Heinz-Ansmann Foundation.

Independent predictors of poor vitamin K antagonist control in venous thromboembolism patients. Data from the EINSTEIN-DVT and PE studies.

Vitamin K antagonists (VKA) are used to prevent recurrent disease in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE). Their efficacy and safety depend on individual time in therapeutic range (iTTR) and variability of International Normalised Ratios (INR). We aimed to identify independent predictors of poor VKA control > 28 days. In a prospective cohort of 3825 VTE patients, separate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify predictors of low iTTR (first quartile) and instability (iTTR median). Subsequently, the association between these predictors and clinical outcomes was investigated. Weight < 50 kg (odds ratio [OR]=1.89; 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.03-3.49), active cancer at baseline (OR=1.52; CI1.05-2.19), secondary VTE (OR=1.42; CI1.20-1.68), and INR < 2.0 at stop of double therapy (OR=1.35; CI1.09-1.67) were independent predictors of low iTTR. The first two were also predictive for instability (OR=1.96; CI1.06-3.63 and OR=1.95; CI1.36-2.80, respectively). ORs of early (≤ 28 days) low iTTR and instability depended on VKA type. In acenocoumarol users, early low iTTR was an independent predictor of subsequent low iTTR (OR=1.92; CI1.31-2.80) and instability (OR=1.55; CI1.07-2.23). In warfarin users, early low iTTR (OR=1.36; CI1.09-1.69) and instability (OR=1.25; CI1.01-1.55) were additionally predictive for low iTTR, but only the latter was predictive for instability (OR=1.91; CI1.57-2.32). Many predictors of VKA control also predicted premature discontinuation, but only region was prognostic for clinical outcome. In conclusion, we identified several independent predictors of low iTTR and instability > 28 days, which showed some similarities but did not fully overlap. Early VKA control was of additional value for prediction of both, but had to be interpreted in the context of VKA type.

Selection, management, and outcome of vitamin K antagonist-treated patients with atrial fibrillation not switched to novel oral anticoagulants. Results from the Dresden NOAC registry.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) patients treated with well-controlled vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) may benefit less from non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) because they are supposed to be at low risk of thromboembolic and bleeding complications. However, little is known about the selection, management, and outcome of such "stable" VKA patients in current practice. We assessed characteristics, VKA persistence and 12 months' outcome of AF patients selected for VKA continuation. On March 1, 2013, the Dresden NOAC registry opened recruitment of patients continuing on VKA for sites that had been actively recruiting AF patients treated with NOACs in the prior 18 months. Patient characteristics were compared with those of NOAC patients from the same sites. Four hundred twenty-seven VKA patients had a significantly lower bleeding risk profile compared with 706 patients selected for NOAC treatment. For VKA, international normalised ratio time-in-therapeutic range before enrolment was 71 % and increased to 75 % during a mean follow-up of 15 months. Rates of stroke/transient ischaemic attack/systemic embolism were 1.3/100 patient-years (intention-to-treat) and 0.94/100 patient-years (as-treated). On-treatment rate of ISTH major bleeding was 4.15/100 patient-years (95 % CI 2.60-6.29) with a case-fatality rate of 16.3 % (all-cause mortality at day 90 after major bleeding). In conclusion, in daily care, AF patients selected for VKA therapy are healthier than those treated with NOAC, demonstrate a high quality of anticoagulant control and very low stroke rates. However, despite adequate patient selection and INR control, the risk of major VKA bleeding is unacceptably high and bleeding outcome is poor.

Effectiveness and safety of dabigatran therapy in daily-care patients with atrial fibrillation. Results from the Dresden NOAC Registry.

The effectiveness and safety of dabigatran for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (SPAF) demonstrated in RE-LY needs to be confirmed in daily care. To evaluate treatment persistence, effectiveness and safety of dabigatran therapy in SPAF patients in daily care, we used data from an ongoing, prospective, non-interventional registry of more than 2,500 patients on novel oral anticoagulants in daily care. Between October 1, 2011 and February 28, 2013, a total of 341 SPAF patients receiving dabigatran were enrolled. The combined endpoint of stroke/transient ischaemic attack/systemic embolism occurred at a rate of 2.93/100 patient-years in the intention-to-treat analysis (95%-CI 1.6-4.9) and at 1.9/100 patient-years in the on treatment analysis (events within three days after last intake). On-treatment rates were higher in patients selected for 110 mg dabigatran (n=183) BID compared to the 158 patients selected for 150 mg BID (2.88 [95% CI 1.16- 5.93] vs 0.86/100 patient-years [95% CI 0.10, 3.12]). On treatment, major bleeding occurred at a rate of 2.3/100 patient-years and numerically more often in patients receiving the 110 mg BID dose compared to the 150 mg BID dose (2.9 vs 1.7/100 patient-years). Dabigatran treatment discontinuation occurred in a total of 124 patients during follow-up (25.8 per 100 patient-years in Kaplan Meier analysis). Main reasons for treatment discontinuation were non-bleeding side effects. Our data contribute to the confirmation of effectiveness and relative safety of dabigatran in unselected patients in daily care. However, discontinuation rates are not lower than those reported for patients treated with vitamin K antagonists.

Intra coronary freshly isolated bone marrow cells transplantation improve cardiac function in patients with ischemic heart disease.

BACKGROUND: Autologous bone marrow cell transplantation (BMCs-Tx) is a promising novel option for treatment of cardiovascular disease. In this study we analyzed whether intracoronary autologous freshly isolated BMCs-Tx have beneficial effects on cardiac function in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD). RESULTS: In this prospective nonrandomized study we treated 12 patients with IHD by freshly isolated BMCs-Tx by use of point of care system and compared them with a representative 12 control group without cell therapy. Global ejection fraction (EF) and infarct size area were determined by left ventriculography.Intracoronary transplantation of autologous freshly isolated BMCs led to a significant reduction of infarct size (p < 0.001) and an increase of global EF (p = 0.003) as well as infarct wall movement velocity (p < 0.001) after 6 months follow-up compared to control group. In control group there were no significant differences of global EF, infarct size and infarct wall movement velocity between baseline and 6 months after coronary angiography. Furthermore, we found significant decrease in New York Heart Association (NYHA) as well as significant decrease of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) level 6 months after intracoronary cell therapy (p < 0.001), whereas there were no significant differences in control group 6 months after coronary angiography. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that intracoronary transplantation of autologous freshly isolated BMCs by use of point of care system is safe and may lead to improvement of cardiac function in patients with IHD. REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN54510226.

Improved mobilization of the CD34(+) and CD133(+) bone marrow-derived circulating progenitor cells by freshly isolated intracoronary bone marrow cell transplantation in patients with ischemic heart disease.

Cell therapy is a promising novel option for treatment of cardiovascular disease. Because the role of bone marrow-derived circulating progenitor cells (BM-CPCs) after cell therapy is less clear, we analyzed in this randomized, controlled study the influence of intracoronary autologous freshly isolated bone marrow cell transplantation (BMC-Tx) by using a point-of-care system on cardiac function and on the mobilization of BM-CPCs in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD). Fifty-six patients with IHD were randomized to either receive freshly isolated BMC-Tx or a control group that did not receive cell therapy. Peripheral blood concentrations of CD34/45(+) and CD133/45(+) CPCs were measured by flow cytometry pre-, immediately post-, and at 3, 6, and 12 months postprocedure in both groups. Global ejection fraction and the size of infarct area were determined by left ventriculography. We observed in patients with IHD after intracoronary transplantation of autologous freshly isolated BMCs-Tx at 3 and 12 months follow-up a significant reduction of the size of infarct area and increase of global ejection fraction as well as infarct wall movement velocity. The mobilization of CD34/45(+) and CD133/45(+) BM-CPCs significantly increased at 3, 6, and 12 months after cell therapy when compared with baseline in patients with IHD, although no significant changes were observed between pre- and immediately postintracoronary cell therapy administration. In the control group without cell therapy, there was no significant difference of CD34/45(+) and CD133/45(+) BM-CPCs mobilization between pre- and at 3, 6, and 12 months postcoronary angiography. Intracoronary transplantation of autologous freshly isolated BMCs by using a point-of-care system in patients with IHD may enhance and prolong the mobilization of CD34/45(+) and CD133/45(+) BM-CPCs in peripheral blood and this might increase the regenerative potency in IHD.