Rivaroxaban for Treatment of Patients With Suspected or Confirmed Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2015-07-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Heparin is an anticoagulant (blood thinner) that is commonly used to treat patients with
heart attacks and patients with blood clots in their legs or lungs (venous thrombosis). Some
patients develop an allergic reaction to heparin, a condition called heparin-induced
thrombocytopenia (HIT). HIT makes blood clot, which is the opposite of what heparin was
designed to do. These blood clots can lead to heart attacks, strokes, limb amputations, and
death. The objective of this 200 patient study is to determine if a new blood thinner called
rivaroxaban (Xarelto) can be used to treat HIT. Rivaroxaban can be taken by mouth, does not
require blood testing, and had a low risk of bleeding when it was used to treat blood clots
in other clinical trials. If this study shows that rivaroxaban can be used to treat HIT,
there will be two very important benefits. For patients with HIT, the benefit will be having
a safe, and easy-to-use drug to protect them from developing further life or limb-threatening
blood clots. For the Canadian health care system, the benefit will be having a drug that is
much less expensive than the drugs currently used to treat HIT.