ABSTRACT
Background: Although COVID-19 has been mainly identified as a viral respiratory tract infection, studies have reported that severe COVID-19 is often complicated with coagulopathy resulting in high risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and mortality. In addition, COVID-19 has been regarded as a risk factor for thromboembolic events. Accumulating evidence indicates the necessity of diagnostic and prophylactic strategies against thromboembolic events in COVID-19. Currently, subcutaneous injectable drugs such as enoxaparin are widely used for prophylaxis of thromboembolic events. However, although these drugs are recommended to be used for 6 months, they are usually discontinued after 7-10 days because of administration difficulties. On the other hand, new generation anticoagulants are oral form of these drugs and can be safely used for a longer time. Since there is still not an indication of these drugs for the prophylaxis of thromboembolic events following COVID-19, they are not routinely used in clinical practice. Method(s): COVID-19 patients discharged from inpatient clinic between 01.06.2021 and 01.12.2021 were referred to our outpatient clinic due to regulation of anticoagulant medication. We administered new generation oral anticoagulants for prophylaxis against thromboembolic events in 50 patients. For this purpose, we used 30 mg 1x1 edoxaban, 15 mg 1x1 rivaroxaban or 2.5 mg 2x1 apixaban for 6 months. On the other hand, it was noticed from hospital medical records that 100 patients followed-up in inpatient clinic during that period received enoxaparin injections for 10 days during hospitalization and no further anticoagulant medication was given. short term or long term Results: In general, we obtained successful outcomes in patients who were administered oral anticoagulants.On the contrary, some of the patients who did not use these drugs developed thromboembolic events following COVID-19 disease. None of the patients receiving oral anticoagulants developed thromboembolic events during 6-month followup. On the other hand, among the patients who received enoxaparin injections, three patients developed venous thromboembolism(deep vein thrombosis in two patients and pulmonary embolism in one patient, all of them nearly one month later), and two patients arterial thromboembolism Method of prophylaxis Conclusion(s): We compared long-term oral anticoagulant medications and short term injections and found that thromboembolic events were not encountered in longterm oral medication. We suggest routine use of new anticoagulants as prophylactic agents against thromboembolic events following COVID-19 disease..