Intracranial complications after minor head injury (MHI) in patients taking vitamin K antagonists (VKA) or direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs)
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Beatrice Spinola; Alessandro Riccardi; Grazia Guiddo; Maria Ghinatti; Roberto Lerza; Pierangela Minuto; Michele Malerba
- Source
- The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. 35:1317-1319
- Subject
- Male
Vitamin K
Minor Head Injury
Administration, Oral
Computed tomography
Vitamin k
Head trauma
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Risk Factors
medicine
Craniocerebral Trauma
Humans
In patient
Prospective Studies
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
medicine.diagnostic_test
business.industry
Incidence (epidemiology)
Anticoagulants
030208 emergency & critical care medicine
Venous Thromboembolism
General Medicine
Emergency department
Middle Aged
Intracranial Hemorrhage, Traumatic
Safety profile
Italy
Anesthesia
Emergency Medicine
Female
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
business
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
- Language
- ISSN
- 0735-6757
Introduction The correlation between chronic direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) intake and the incidence of intracranial complications after minor head injury (MHI) is still not well defined. This study examined the incidence of complications in patients receiving vitamin K antagonists (VKA) or DOACs observed in the emergency department (ED) for MHI. Methods Two hundred twenty-five patients affected by MHI and receiving oral anticoagulants were recorded between January and December 2016, distinguishing those treated with VKA (118) from those receiving DOACs (107). All patients underwent a CT scan and were observed for 24 h in the ED. Follow-up was performed up to 1 month after the head trauma. Results The rate of intracranial hemorrhage was significantly lower in patients treated with DOACs than in patients treated with VKA. We recorded 2 deaths among the 12 patients who experienced intracranial complications in the VKA group. Discussion DOACs seem to have a more favorable safety profile than VKA in patients affected by MHI. This observation is important in light of the increasing number of elderly patients who are receiving anticoagulant therapy.