Novel Oral Anticoagulants versus Vitamin K Antagonists for Patients with Left Ventricular Thrombus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) are recommended as first-line anticoagulants for patients with left ventricular thrombus (LVT), accumulating evidence suggests novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) could be safe alternatives for VKAs. Efficacy and safety of NOACs should be assessed to justify their usage for LVT patients.DesignWe performed a meta-analysis of observational studies to evaluate the efficacy and safety of NOACs as compared to VKAs in LVT patients.MethodsPubMed and EMBASE databases were searched for articles published until November 12, 2020. Two reviewers independently extracted relevant information from articles and assessed the study quality. Pooled effects were estimated using Mantel–Haenssel method and presented as risk ratios (RR) using fixed-effect model. Reporting followed the Meta-analyses Of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) guideline.ResultsA total of 2467 LVT patients from 13 studies were included. Compared with VKAs, NOACs showed similar efficacy in prevention of stroke or systemic embolism (RR: 0.96, 95% confidence interval [CI]:0.80-1.16, P = 0.68) and thrombus resolution (RR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.72-1.09, P = 0.20), but significantly reduced the risk of stroke (RR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.47-1.00, P < 0.05). For safety outcomes, NOACs users showed similar risk of any bleedings (RR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.67-1.31, P = 0.70), but lower risk of clinically relevant bleedings (RR: 0.35, 95% CI: 0.13-0.92, P = 0.03) compared with VKAs users.ConclusionsCompared with VKAs, NOACs acquired similar efficacy and safety profile for patients with LVT, but could reduce the risk of strokes and clinically relevant bleedings.