New Oral Anticoagulants and HIT

An article posted December 15 on TheHeart.org quotes Dr. Jawed Fareed, Loyola University, Chicago, who demonstrated using an in vitro experiment that rivaroxaban, apixaban, and dabigatran do not interact with the anti-platelet factor 4 antibodies responsible for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia with thrombosis, a severe side effect of unfractionated heparin therapy. The findings were reported at this year’s American Society for Hematology annual meeting. Thanks to Dave McGlasson for alerting me to this news.