Coagulation Assay and Stroke Severity upon Admission of Patients with Cardioembolic Cerebral Infarction during Direct Oral Anticoagulant Use

Although the severity of acute cerebral infarction varies in patients receiving direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), no practical method to predict the severity has been established. We analyzed retrospectively the relationship between cardioembolic cerebral infarction severity and coagulation indicators in patients treated with DOACs. We assessed the anticoagulation effect of DOACs using the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), and prothrombin time international standardized ratio (PT-INR) in 71 patients with cardioembolic cerebral infarction admitted to our hospital between January 2015 and December 2019. The participants were divided into a prolongation group (prolonged APTT for oral thrombin inhibitors or prolonged PT for oral factor Xa inhibitors, n =37) and a normal group (no prolongation of coagulation markers, n =34). Of the 71 patients, 21 (30%) and 50 (70%) were using oral thrombin and oral factor Xa inhibitors, respectively. PT, PT-INR, and APTT were significantly higher in the prolongation group (PT: 17.4 ± 5.1 vs. 12.8 ± 1.4 s, P < 0.001; PT-INR: 1.5 ± 0.5 vs. 1.1 ± 0.1, P < 0.001; APTT: 44.8 ± 26.4 vs. 30.4 ± 4.1 s, P = 0.003). The median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score on admission and the prevalence of large vessel occlusion were significantly lower in the prolongation group (NIHSS: 2.0 vs. 9.5, P = 0.007; large vessel occlusion: 27% vs. 53%, P = 0.031). The prevalence of large vessel occlusion was low and stroke severity was mild in patients undergoing DOAC therapy with prolongation of coagulation assay markers upon onset of cardioembolic cerebral infarction.