Measuring dabigatran with the dilute Russell viper venom confirm assay in an anticoagulation clinic population

The dabigatran dose-response is predictable; however, it is necessary to measure plasma levels in a variety of clinical conditions. We evaluated a novel dabigatran measure - the 'dilute Russell viper venom confirm (DRVVC) assay' - against current developmental assays and a reference method. We measured plasma dabigatran and compared results from the Stago Sta-Clot DRVVC assay, Stago Ecarin Chromogenic Assay, Biophen Hemoclot Thrombin Inhibitor, and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. We obtained dabigatran calibrators and controls from Biophen, and performed the coagulation assays using a Stago STA-R Evolution coagulometer. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method specimens were performed on an AB Sciex instrument at LabCorp. We enrolled 97 anticoagulation clinic patients (mean age 76 years) who were taking 150 mg dabigatran twice daily. All had creatinine clearances above 30 ml/min; patients were not excluded for concurrent medications or health issues. Citrated blood specimens were processed immediately, and stored at -70°C. We did not correlate collection time with medication time. We employed descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and the Bland-Altman difference plot to assess the data. The range for all assays was 11.6-917 ng/ml. Analysis of variance generated a P value of 0.1 and Bland-Altman differences were all below 4.0% compared with DRVVC. The DRVVC measures dabigatran with validity comparable to other methods.