Risk of intracranial hemorrhage with direct oral anticoagulants versus low molecular weight heparin in glioblastoma: A retrospective cohort study.

Abstract

2015 Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is associated with a high rate of venous thromboembolism (VTE), but there is little data to guide anticoagulation in GBM patients, in whom the risks of VTE must be balanced against the risk of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). Methods: We performed a single-institution retrospective cohort study of patients with GBM diagnosed with VTE from 2014-2021 who were treated with low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) or a direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC). The cumulative incidence of ICH was compared between the LMWH and DOAC groups. The primary outcome was clinically relevant ICH within the first 30 days of anticoagulation, defined as any ICH that was fatal, symptomatic, required surgical intervention, and/or led to cessation of anticoagulation. Key secondary outcomes included clinically relevant ICH within 6 months, fatal ICH within 30 days and 6 months, any bleeding within 30 days and 6 months, and recurrent VTE within 6 months. Fisher’s exact test was used for comparison of primary and secondary endpoints between the two groups. Cumulative incidence curves were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the cumulative incidence of clinically relevant ICH at both the 30-day timepoint and 6-month timepoint was compared between the DOAC and LMWH groups using the Gray test to account for death as a competing risk. Results: A total of 121 patients were identified in the primary cohort for 30-day outcome analyses (DOAC, n = 33; LMWH, n = 88). For 6-month outcome analyses, the cohort included only patients who were maintained on their initial anticoagulant (DOAC or LMWH) and did not switch anticoagulants during the 6 months following diagnosis of VTE (DOAC, n = 32; LMWH, n = 75). The cumulative incidence of clinically relevant ICH at 30 days was 0% (0/33) in the DOAC group and 9% (8/88) in the LMWH group (p = 0.11). The cumulative incidence of clinically relevant ICH at 6 months was 0% (0/32) in the DOAC group and 24% (18/75) in the LMWH group (p = 0.001), with 4 fatal ICHs in the LMWH group. Other outcomes are displayed in the Table. Conclusions: Our study suggests that DOACs are associated with a lower incidence of clinically relevant ICH in patients with GBM-associated VTE compared to LMWH. These data support the use of DOACs as a safe alternative to LMWH in patients with GBM.[Table: see text]