• Virginie Dufrost, Jessie Risse, Stéphane Zuily, and Denis Wahl.
• CHRU de Nancy, Vascular Medicine Division and Regional Competence Center For Rare Vascular And Systemic Autoimmune Diseases, Nancy, France.
• Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2016 Dec 1; 18 (12): 74.

BackgroundThe cornerstone of thrombotic antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) patients' management is to prevent recurrent thrombosis by long-term anticoagulation.Purpose Of ReviewThe purpose of the review is to summarize available literature on direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) use in APS patients through a systematic review and to determine factors associated with thrombosis recurrence.Recent FindingsThe recent RAPS trial demonstrated that APS patients treated with rivaroxaban had a significant twofold-increased thrombin potential, suggesting a higher thrombotic risk, in comparison with warfarin users. Furthermore, several reports of APS patients treated with DOACs have raised safety issues. Our systematic review identified 122 published APS patients treated with DOACs; among them, 19 experienced a recurrent thrombosis while on DOACs. Of note, triple positivity (positivity of all three laboratory criteria for APS) was associated with a 3.5-fold increased risk for recurrent thrombosis. In conclusion, DOACs should be used with caution in APS patients and randomized control trials with clinical primary endpoints assessing clinical efficacy and safety are awaited to establish whether the prescription of DOACs could be a safe alternative to warfarin.

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