Aspirin as Effective as Costly Clot Busters After Hip, Knee Surgery

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Low-dose aspirin does the work of costly clot busters for patients who had undergone hip or knee surgery, new study suggests.

Aspirin was as effective as the much more expensive rivaroxaban aka Xarelto when it comes to prevent the risk of blood clots in the lungs (aka pulmonary embolism) or legs (deep-vein thrombosis), conditions that are usually associated with such medical interventions.

The trial found that patients who took aspirin for five days after the surgery were not faring worse than those who took rivaroxaban.

Lead author David R. Anderson noted that the “inexpensive” aspirin “was not significantly different” than rivaroxaban when it comes to the prevention of post-surgery blood clots in total hip or total knee arthroplasty.

A research paper detailing the findings appeared Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Study

The randomized controlled trial which was double-blind and multicentered involved 3,424 people. Around half underwent total hip arthroplasty and the other half total knee arthroplasty. The average age of study participants was 62.8 years, with 47.8% being men.

After the surgery and wound closure, all patients were asked to take 10 mg of rivaroxaban per day for five days. Those who underwent knee surgery were asked to take either rivaroxaban (10 mg) or aspirin (81 mg) per day for nine more days.

Patients who underwent hip surgery were asked to take either rivaroxaban (10 mg) or aspirin (81 mg) per day for 30 more days. The drugs were administered in identically looking capsules, so patients had no idea what they were taken.

Those in the aspirin group continued to take it as prescribed by their doctor. Volunteers were tracked for three months to see if they developed any bleeding complications or issues with blood clotting.

During the follow-up period, 0.64% of patients who took low-dose aspirin and 0.70% of patients who took rivaroxaban were diagnosed with pulmonary embolism or deep-vein thrombosis, which suggests the drugs are equally effective.
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John Birks

John holds a diploma in journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He covers the technology, social media, green business, eco-travel, politics, arts culture.