Analysis of the clinical characteristics of dabigatran-induced oesophagitis

Abstract

Objectives Dabigatran-induced oesophagitis has emerged in recent years. However, the incidence and clinical characteristics of patients with dabigatran-induced oesophagitis have not yet been clarified. The aim of this study was to examine the clinical characteristics of the disease. Methods A retrospective analysis was undertaken of the literature on dabigatran-induced oesophagitis in Chinese and English from 2008 onwards. Results There were 20 men (74.07%) and seven women (25.93%) in the study; their median age was 75 years (range 37-90). The main clinical symptoms were dysphagia (42.31%), odynophagia (26.92%), retrosternal pain (23.08%) and heartburn (23.08%). Endoscopy mainly showed sloughing mucosal casts (14 cases, 56%), ulcers (8 cases, 32%) and erosion (6 cases, 24%). The main injury sites were the mid to lower oesophagus (32%) and the mid oesophagus (32%). Withdrawal of dabigatran or giving the correct medication regimen resulted in rapid recovery of clinical symptoms from 1 day in some patients and up to 4 weeks, and mucosal recovery (2-5 weeks) in a median time of 3 weeks (range 0.29-48) in all patients. Conclusions Oesophagitis is a rare complication of dabigatran with a good prognosis. Patients should be given proper medication instructions to prevent the occurrence of dabigatran-induced oesophagitis.

Nonvitamin K oral anticoagulants with proton pump inhibitor cotherapy ameliorated the risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding

“…To reduce the risk of hemorrhage, our physicians prescribed 110 mg of dabigatran once or twice daily, based on evaluations 32 . Consistent with previous reports 33 – 35 , the preponderance of our endoscopic findings is indicative of esophagitis. Even though dabigatran was associated with the highest proportion and trend of UGIB events among NOAC users, the difference in cause‒effect occurrence was not statistically significant.…”