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Unprovoked venous thromboembolism (VTE) carries a high long-term recurrence risk. Nevertheless, most patients discontinue thromboprophylaxis within six months owing to the cost, inconvenience and bleeding risk associated with standard oral anticoagulants.
Now, an analysis of 1,224 patients with a first unprovoked VTE has found that aspirin at a dose of 100mg/day cuts VTE recurrence by up to 42% over two years, without significantly increasing the risk of bleeding.
The INSPIRE study results, published in Circulation (online, 25 August 2014)[1]
, suggest that aspirin may represent an inexpensive, safe and convenient alternative to warfarin and other anticoagulant drugs, according to John Simes, from the University of Sydney, Australia, and his fellow investigators.
“If cost is the main consideration, aspirin is a particularly useful therapy, because it is cost-saving,” the researchers say.
