Left atrial thrombus formation after brief interruption of rivaroxaban

Every year, nearly 250000 atrial fibrillation patients require temporary interruption of anticoagulation therapy for invasive procedures, acute illness, or bleeding events. Rivaroxaban is an oral anticoagulant that works by inhibiting factor Xa leading to a blockage of thrombin production, which inhibits platelet aggregation and thrombus formation. As with other anticoagulants, there is an increased risk of a thrombotic event occurring when rivaroxaban therapy is temporarily interrupted (TI) or prematurely discontinued. The 30-day rate of stroke or systemic embolism for rivaroxaban TI is 0.36%. Possible factors for higher than expected rates of embolic events include a prothrombotic perioperative environment among patients having TI for surgery and a prothrombotic environment associated with TI due to bleeding. The ROCKET AF study showed that there was no detectable difference in the risk of stroke and systemic embolism for participants treated with rivaroxaban vs warfarin undergoing TI. Another analysis suggested that the risk for stroke from TI is probably higher in the rivaroxaban group with 3 to 30 days discontinuation. Alternative anticoagulation therapy such as bridging should always be considered when stopping rivaroxaban.