[Two new anticoagulants available in 2010--Dabigatran Etexilate and Rivaroxaban: expected progresses--raised...

After having been used for decades, heparins (unfractionated heparin [UFH] or low molecular weight heparins [LMWH]) and vitamin K antagonists (VKA), which are only parenterally active or which are responsible for frequent iatrogenicity respectively, have to face the competition of new anticoagulant drugs targeting either factor Xa or factor IIa (thrombin). Rivaroxaban (Xarelto(®)) and Dabigatran Etexilate (Pradaxa(®)) are the two leading components. They are more convenient to use and do not require routine coagulation monitoring. They are already marketed for venous thromboembolism prevention in major orthopaedic surgery. Although manufacturers claim that no biological monitoring is required, these two compounds may interfere in routine coagulation tests such as PT or aPTT, and in esoteric assays such as anti-Xa activity (the results of which are usually expressed in international anti-Xa units either UFH or LMWH unit) for Rivaroxaban or anti-IIa activity for Dabigatran Etexilate. Noteworthy is the fact that, in the case of these new anticoagulant drugs, results should be expressed in active product units (nanogram per millilitre of Rivaroxaban or Dabigatran). The new anticoagulants are associated with a bleeding risk comparable to that of VKA and heparins.