Summary
Asymptomatic deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) detected by mandatory venography, a surrogate
outcome, comprises most of the efficacy outcome events in recent thromboprophylaxis
trials. The validity of this surrogate to estimate trade-off between thrombotic and
bleeding events in these clinical trials requires a consistent relationship between
asymptomatic DVT and symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE). In this systematic
review of high quality VTE prevention trials, we examined the consistency of the ratios
of asymptomatic DVT to symptomatic VTE across a broad range of indications. Studies
were identified from citations listed in the chapters on VTE prevention in the antithrombotic
guidelines by the American College of Chest Physicians, 2012. A study was eligible
if it: 1) was a randomised trial comparing an anticoagulant with standard of care;
2) included at least 500 participants; 3) reported asymptomatic or all DVT rates;
and 4) re ported symptomatic VTE rates. Of the 26 eligible trials, 19 trials were
conducted in orthopaedic patients, five in general surgery patients and two in general
medical patients. The overall median rates (ranges) for asymptomatic DVT and symptomatic
VTE were 9.11% (0.75 to 54.87%) and 0.49% (0.00 to 3.10%), respectively. The median
ratio was 14.53, with a wide range (2.75 to 103.86). Wide variability in the ratios
persisted despite indication- and anticoagulant-specific analyses. In VTE prevention
trials of alternative anticoagulants, the wide variability in the ratios of asymptomatic
DVT to symptomatic VTE precludes judging the trade-off between thrombotic and bleeding
events on the basis of composite outcomes dominated by venographic DVT.
Keywords
Venography - surrogate marker - venous thrombosis - clinical trials - oral anticoagulants
- heparins/LMWH