Safety of dabigatran

Abstract

Thrombosis ranks first among the leading causes of death worldwide and is a fatal risk factor for patients’ health. Rapid diagnosis and appropriate treatment are necessary. There are three categories of antithrombotic agents: antiplatelet agents, anticoagulants, and fibrinolytics. Anticoagulants are first-line therapy for the prevention and treatment of venous thrombi. Dabigatran etexilate is a direct thrombin inhibitor. The effectiveness of dabigatran has been demonstrated in several clinical studies for the prevention of venous thromboembolism in patients undergoing total hip or total knee arthroplasty, for the prevention of stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation, and in the treatment of acute venous thromboembolism. Some studies have demonstrated that the use of dabigatran leads to an increased risk of bleeding. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to examine the safety of dabigatran in patients over 18 years of age. We identified potentially relevant studies by searching the electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar. Further, according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, as well as by means of independent selection, all the authors of this article selected the sources that were suitable according to the criteria and compiled this review.