Apixaban for the Treatment of Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis: A Single-Centre Experience and Systematic Review of the Literature

Background and Objective Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a rare disease, and data regarding direct oral anticoagulant therapy are insufficient. Apixaban could have a safer profile than other direct oral anticoagulants. We present our case series of patients with CVT treated with apixaban and a systematic review of published real-world cases. Methods We described our series of patients with CVT treated with apixaban and searched PubMed for similar published cases with reported complete outcome data: recanalisation rate, recurrent CVT, modified Rankin score, intracranial haemorrhage, other bleedings and mortality. Results Four male patients (average age 43.5 years) with idiopathic CVT, who presented with a headache and/or seizure without neurological deficits/symptoms or cerebral infarcts/haemorrhage were treated with apixaban 5 mg twice daily for an average 28 months (18–46 months) and followed for on average 2.8 years. In two patients, a partial/complete recanalisation was achieved, there was no recurrent CVT, all patients achieved a modified Rankin score of 0, none experienced an intracranial haemorrhage, other bleedings or died. One patient, in whom anti-phospholipid syndrome was later diagnosed, had a recurrence of CVT after stopping apixaban. Our systematic review identified only 15 eligible patients (average age 39 years, 60% female). Partial/complete recanalisation was achieved in 74% of cases, there was no recurrent CVT, 95% achieved a modified Rankin score of ≤ 2, none experienced an intracranial haemorrhage, other bleedings or died. Conclusions Our cases and the review of similar published cases, albeit obtained on a smaller scale, suggest that apixaban may be a safe and effective therapy for CVT. This assumption should be tested in a large randomised study.