Why the study?
Neuroimaging characteristics in acute ischemic stroke patients with preceding DOAC therapy compared to VKA therapy had hardly been described.
Does preceding DOAC therapy compared to VKA therapy alter the presence of large vessel occlusion or infarct size in patients with acute ischemic stroke?
Does preceding DOAC therapy compared to VKA therapy alter the presence of large vessel occlusion or infarct size in patients with acute ischemic stroke?
In patients with acute ischemic stroke, preceding DOAC therapy is associated with similar rates of large vessel occlusion and infarct size compared to VKA therapy.
Preceding DOAC use was associated with similar LVO rates versus VKA in acute ischemic stroke; leaves open effects on infarct size and outcomes.
BACKGROUND: Despite the utility of neuroimaging in the diagnostic and therapeutic management of patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS), imaging characteristics in patients with preceding direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) compared to vitamin K antagonists (VKA) have hardly been described. We aimed to determine presence of large vessel occlusion (LVO), thrombus length, infarction diameter, and occurrence of hemorrhagic transformation in AIS patients with preceding DOAC as compared to VKA therapy. METHODS: Using a prospectively collected cohort of AIS patients, we performed univariate and multivariable regression analyses regarding imaging outcomes. Additionally, we provide a sensitivity analysis for the subgroup of patients with confirmed therapeutic anticoagulation. RESULTS: We included AIS in patients with preceding DOAC (N = 75) and VKA (N = 61) therapy, median age 79 (IQR 70-83), 39% female. Presence of any LVO between DOAC and VKA patients (29.3% versus 37.7%, P = 0.361), and target LVO for endovascular therapy (26.7% versus 27.9%, P = 1.0) was equal with a similar occlusion pattern. DOAC as compared to VKA were associated with a similar rate of target LVO for EVT (aOR 0.835, 95% CI 0.368-1.898). The presence of multiple lesions and characteristics of the thrombus were similar in DOAC and VKA patients. Acute ischemic lesion diameter in real world patients was equal in patients taking DOAC as compared to VKA. Lesion diameter in VKA patients (median 13 mm, IQR 6-26 versus median 20 mm, IQR 7-36, P = 0.001), but not DOAC patients was smaller in the setting of confirmed therapeutic VKA. The frequency of radiological hemorrhagic transformation and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage in OAC patients was low. Sensitivity analysis considering only patients with confirmed therapeutic anticoagulation did not change any of the results. CONCLUSION: Preceding DOAC treatment showed equal rates of LVO and infarct size as compared to VKA in AIS patients. This study adds to the knowledge of imaging findings in AIS patients with preceding anticoagulation.
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Meinel et al. (2020) studied this question.
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