Summary
To compare the efficacy and safety of the new direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC), ideally
head-to-head clinical trials should be performed. Given the expense of such an undertaking,
it is highly unlikely that such a comparison would be performed. Therefore, there
is a need for an unbiased comparative assessment of the benefits and risks of the
DOACs, based on the available trial data. Indirect or mixed treatment comparisons
may be an useful tool to overcome these limitations also known as network meta-analysis
(NMA).
The aim of this paper is to give an overview on published NMAs for dabigatran, rivaroxaban
and apixaban, each assessed against warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation,
and against enoxaparin in patients undergoing total knee and total hip replacement
surgery, in order to obtain insights into the comparability of the adopted methodological
techniques.
English version available at:www.phlebologieonline.de
Keywords
Oral anticoagulants - Apixaban - Dabigatran - Rivaroxaban - Edoxaban - atrial fibrillation
- total knee replace ment - total hip replacement - pro phylaxis of thromboembolism