Why the study?
Does long-term vs short-term therapy with vitamin K antagonists reduce recurrent VTE in patients with symptomatic VTE?
Does long-term vs short-term therapy with vitamin K antagonists reduce recurrent VTE in patients with symptomatic VTE?
Long-term VKA therapy for symptomatic VTE significantly reduces the risk of recurrent VTE but increases the risk of major bleeding compared to short-term therapy, with no difference in mortality.
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May guide individualized VTE duration decisions; leaves open net benefit of long-term VKAs in contemporary cohorts.
CLINICAL QUESTION: Is long-term (≥3 months) vs short-term therapy with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) associated with differences in the incidence of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE), major bleeding, and mortality in patients with symptomatic VTE? BOTTOM LINE: Long-term treatment with VKAs is associated with a reduced risk for recurrent VTE and an increased risk for major bleeding compared with short-term treatment in patients with VTE, but is not associated with differences in mortality.
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Middeldorp et al. (2015) studied this question.
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