Enoxaparin Treatment Followed by Rivaroxaban for the Treatment of Acute Lower Limb Venous Thromboembolism: Initial Experience in a Single Center

Abstract

Rivaroxaban is a target-specific oral anticoagulant approved for the treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE). On its major clinical trials, treatment was initiated directly with a 3-week dose of oral 15 mg twice daily followed by 20 mg every day for at least 3 months. We retrospectively evaluated an initial therapy for confirmed VTE with 1 to 18 days of enoxaparin (1 mg/kg twice daily parenteral) followed by oral rivaroxaban 20 mg every day. Of 49 patients, we found no symptomatic recurrence, no major bleeding, and only 1 clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding. We concluded in this pilot study that it is safe and effective to treat patients with enoxaparin course followed directly by a dose of 20 mg of rivaroxaban.