Direct Oral Anticoagulants in Patients With Active Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Many patients with cancer have a hypercoagulable state and an increased risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE), arterial occlusion, and pulmonary emboli. Patients with cancer may also have an increased risk of bleeding with anticoagulant treatment. Recent trials have reported that direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are noninferior to the low-molecular-weight heparin, dalteparin, in preventing VTE, but have a higher bleeding rate.

This study compared the efficacy and risks of DOACs versus dalteparin in patients with cancer-related VTEs across all randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

This study performed a systematic analysis of RCTs published in PubMed, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar from September 1, 2007 through March 31, 2020 that reported clinical outcomes of treatment with DOACs versus dalteparin in patients with cancer with acute VTE. Two investigators independently performed study selection and data extraction. Extracted data were recorded and exported to statistical software for all analyses (OpenMetaAnalyst).

This study included 4 randomized trials (N = 2,907). Compared with DOACs, dalteparin was associated with higher VTE recurrence (risk ratio [RR]: 1.55; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.19 to 2.03; p = 0.001), whereas clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding (CRNMB) was significantly less frequent with dalteparin than that with DOACs (RR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.54 to 0.86; p = 0.001). The risk of CRNMB was largely observed with patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. No significant differences were observed in major bleeding (RR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.52 to 1.06; p = 0.11).

DOACs were noninferior to dalteparin in preventing VTE recurrence in patients with cancer without a significantly increased risk of major bleeding. However, DOACs were associated with higher rates of CRNMB compared with dalteparin, primarily in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies.