The Role of Direct Oral Anticoagulants in Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease – Questions and Future directions

With the advent of the direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), patients requiring anticoagulation for common conditions such as atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism no longer need to worry about dietary restrictions or regular monitoring of the international normalized ratio which complicated warfarin treatment. Switching from warfarin to apixaban, a DOAC, has been shown to improve patient satisfaction by reducing treatment burden [1]. The clotting factor Xa inhibitors (apixaban, rivaroxaban, and edoxaban) and the direct thrombin inhibitors (argatroban and dabigatran) have shown non-inferiority in preventing thromboembolic events and a superior safety profile in terms of bleeding in several trials when compared to warfarin [2-6]. Furthermore, apixaban and dabigatran have even shown superiority in preventing stroke or systemic embolism [3,6].