The role of heparin lead-in in the real-world management of acute venous thromboembolism: The PREFER in VTE registry

Abstract Introduction The appropriate strategy for initiating oral anticoagulant (OAC) therapy after an acute venous thromboembolism (VTE) depends on the intermediate-term anticoagulant to be used. While heparin bridging to vitamin K antagonists (VKA) is required, the direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) rivaroxaban (30 mg/day) and apixaban (10 mg/day) can be initiated directly without parenteral anticoagulation. The objective was to evaluate OAC initiation patterns in clinical practice. Materials and methods PREFER in VTE was an international, non-interventional registry conducted between January 2013 and August 2015. Consecutive acute VTE patients were grouped based on their OAC treatment at…