Efficacy and safety of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants post-kidney transplantation

BACKGROUND: Novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) were developed as alternatives to vitamin K antagonists, primarily warfarin, as they do not require routine monitoring and have limited drug-drug and drug-food interactions. However, the efficacy and safety of these agents in kidney transplantation are not well studied. AIM: To assess the profile and safety of NOACs for patients who had kidney transplantation, and to provide recommendations and guidelines on therapeutic strategies in these patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective study carried out among adult patients who were actively on the following NOACs (apixaban, rivaroxaban or dabigatran) in our renal transplantation program from December 2015 to December 2016. The patients were identified primarily through electronic medical record system (patient data linkage). Data on the clinical and laboratory profile of the patients were retrieved and analyzed with SPSS 22.0. RESULTS: = 0.232). CONCLUSION: No thromboembolic events or significant changes in renal profile were observed in our cohort of kidney transplant recipients who were treated with NOACs for at least a year. However, a few bleeding events were observed. This calls for further well-planned randomized controlled trials to assess the efficacy and safety of NOACs among renal transplant recipients.