Bariatric surgery can lower the efficacy of DOACs

Abstract

A 39-year-old woman who was taking the contraceptive pill was admitted with right leg deep venous thrombosis (DVT). She was started on apixaban tablets, but after 8 days developed proximal progression of the DVT and pulmonary embolism. Her medical history later showed a history of sleeve gastrectomy. The patient responded to a vitamin K antagonist after heparin. The failure of the antithrombotic drug shed light on the efficacy and changed pharmacodynamics of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) after bariatric surgery in the absence of commercially available blood monitoring tests. LEARNING POINTS • Bariatric surgery causes complicated changes in the pharmacodynamics of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). • The absence of clinical data on the efficacy of DOACs after various bariatric procedures makes it difficult to justify their use after bariatric surgery.