Anticoagulation with rivaroxaban in a hematology unit: clinical profile, events and discontinuation rates in real-life patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation

AIM

To assess the clinical profile and thromboembolic and bleeding events in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF) who were attended in a hematology unit.

METHODS

Retrospective study of AF patients that started treatment with rivaroxaban between February 2012 and June 2016 in a hematology unit from a tertiary hospital in Spain.

RESULTS

Overall, 243 patients (mean age 78.4 ± 10.1 years; 47.5% women, CHA₂DS₂-VASc 3.7 ± 1.5) were included. After a mean follow-up of 16.5 ± 12.7 months, rivaroxaban was discontinued in only 2.4% of patients. During the follow-up, seven (2.0 events/100 patient-years) patients had a thromboembolic event and six patients (1.7 events/100 patient-years) a major bleeding.

CONCLUSION

Rivaroxaban was effective and safe among AF patients treated in a hematology unit, with very low discontinuation rates.

Usefulness of pan-fungal NASBA test for surveillance of environmental fungal contamination in a protected hematology unit

A pan-fungal nucleic acid sequence based applification (NASBA) test was adapted and used for the first time to detect and quantify the level of filamentous fungi in environmental samples. Surface samples (n = 356) collected in a controlled air flow hematology ward were tested by mycological culture and the pan-fungal NASBA test. The overall percentage of agreement between culture and NASBA was 88%, the Kappa coefficient was equal to 0.61 (95%CI = [0.51; 0.72]). This pan-fungal NASBA test could be a promising tool to rapidly monitor the absence of molds in controlled environments.