Bivalirudin versus unfractionated heparin in percutaneous coronary interventions of patients having received initial fondaparinux treatment: A propensity matched study

Aims: Fondaparinux is an indirect, Factor Xa inhibitor that requires co-administration of another anticoagulant with anti-Factor IIa activity for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) per guideline recommendations. In this setting, the use of bivalirudin, a direct Factor IIa inhibitor, is not well established. Methods and results: Using the Premier hospital database, we identified 971 patients who underwent elective or urgent PCI after receiving fondaparinux as the initial anticoagulant. They were treated with either bivalirudin ± glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor (GPI) (Group A=618) or unfractionated heparin (UFH) ± GPI (Group B=353) during PCI. A 2:1 propensity score matching (PSM) process was performed to control for patient and hospital level characteristics. The primary endpoints were to determine in-hospital death, bleeding and post- PCI length of stay (LOS) between treatment groups. After PSM, 512 matched patients were analysed (Group A=348 and Group B=174). In-hospital death was 1.4% in Group A vs. 2.9% in Group B (p=0.26). Clinically apparent bleeding occurred in 4.0% of Group A vs. 9.2% of Group B patients (p<0.02). Clinically apparent bleeding requiring transfusion was lower in Group A patients (0.6% vs. 2.9%; p=0.04). Post-PCI LOS was 1.9±3.8 days for Group A and 2.4±5.8 days for Group B (p=0.36). GPI use during PCI occurred in 9.2% of Group A vs. 44.8% of Group B patients (p<0.0001). Conclusions: After initial administration of fondaparinux, a bivalirudin-based strategy for PCI is associated with significantly reduced bleeding, with similar mortality and post-PCI LOS when compared with an UFH-based strategy.