Rivaroxaban for Thromboprophylaxis in Patients with Antiphospholipid Syndrome

The main treatment for Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is long-term anticoagulation with an oral vitamin K antagonist, although these are associated with numerous problems. Rivaroxaban is a direct anti-factor Xa inhibitor, with a predictable anticoagulant effect at fixed doses. There are limited reports of rivaroxaban use in APS. We present four cases of patients with APS who received rivaroxaban treatment for six months without thrombosis recurrence or bleeding. Three of the patients received rivaroxaban as initial therapy. In the systematic review, only five patients were treated with rivaroxaban as a thromboprophylaxis. Of the 71 cases of rivaroxaban use including our study, there were seven cases (9.9%) of thrombosis recurrence and two reports of bleeding. The efficacy of rivaroxaban in APS patients was at least equal to warfarin therapy. This report and systematic review suggest that rivaroxaban can be considered cautiously as a thromboprophylactic or alternative therapy for warfarin in patients with APS. (J Rheum Dis 2017;24:108-113)