Abstract
Clinically apparent venous thromboembolism (VTE) occurs in approximately 7% of patients with membranous nephropathy. Hypoalbuminemia at diagnosis is an independent risk factor for VTE, and risk increases significantly as albumin falls. Optimal prophylactic and treatment anticoagulation regimens in the nephrotic syndrome remain unproven but novel oral anti-coagulants have become attractive therapeutic options. We describe a patient diagnosed with anti-phospholipase A2 receptor antibody positive membranous nephropathy and recurrent VTE while on therapeutic dosing of apixaban. A direct factor Xa inhibitor, apixaban has been shown to be non-inferior to warfarin for the treatment of VTE in the general population. However, because it is highly protein-bound, apixaban may have altered pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in patients with nephrotic syndrome and hypoalbuminemia. This case report highlights the need for further studies of direct oral anticoagulants to fully assess their effectiveness in this high-risk population.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 669-672 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Journal of Nephrology |
Volume | 32 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 1 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Acknowledgements VKD is supported in part by Nephrotic Syndrome Study Network Consortium (NEPTUNE) via the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (U54DK083912), NephCure Kidney International, and University of Michigan.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Italian Society of Nephrology.
Keywords
- Glomerulonephritis
- Membranous nephropathy
- Serum albumin/analysis
- Venous thromboembolism/etiology