• Min Yang, Jiang Li, Rui Sun, Yanfeng Wang, Haiyan Xu, Boyan Yang, Xiaoming Wu, and Lei Yu.
• Department of Comprehensive Oncology, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
• J Cancer Res Ther. 2019 Jan 1; 15 (7): 1541-1546.

Aim Of The StudyThe role of direct-acting oral anticoagulants in the treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in cancer patients compared with the current standard of low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) treatment remains unclear. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of direct factor Xa inhibitors compared with those of LMWH in the treatment of cancer-associated VTE.Materials And MethodsWe systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and Web of Science for potential randomized controlled clinical trials and retrospective cohort studies. Data on recurrent VTE (efficacy) and major and minor bleeding events (safety) were extracted, and the odds risks (OR) were analyzed using a random-effect model.ResultsA total of nine studies involving 4208 cancer patients with VTE were included in these analyses. Pooled analysis showed that direct factor Xa inhibitors were significantly superior to LMWH in reducing the risk of recurrent VTE (OR = 0.67; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.54-0.82). There was no significant difference in the rate of major bleeding between the direct factor Xa inhibitor and LMWH treatments (OR = 1.25; 95% CI: 0.94-1.65). However, the rate of minor bleeding events was higher when a direct factor Xa inhibitor was used instead of LMWH (OR = 1.80; 95% CI: 1.05-3.07).ConclusionsDirect factor Xa inhibitors are superior to LMWH in efficacy in the treatment of VTE in cancer patients, and the safety between the two regimens is comparable except for a slightly higher rate of minor bleeding when the former is used.

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