The ARISTOTLE trial: apixaban versus warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation

摘要

Warfarin is the standard of care for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, it has several drawbacks: it carries a significant risk of bleeding, requires international normalized ratio monitoring for dose adjustment, has drug and food interactions and is associated with an inconsistent response. Because of these issues, approximately half of all patients that would benefit from the drug actually take it. A potential alternative is apixaban, an oral direct factor Xa inhibitor that has been shown to reduce the risk of stroke in a similar population when compared with aspirin.