Rivaroxaban in clinical practice for atrial fibrillation with special reference to prothrombin time.

Background:  Prothrombin time (PT) distribution in Japanese nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients under rivaroxaban therapy remains to be clarified.

Methods And Results:  Between May 2012 and July 2013, 115 NVAF patients received rivaroxaban (PT was measured in 94; reagent: recombiplastin). In these patients, (1) PT values were distributed widely from patient to patient and from peak to trough, (2) the time-dependence was obscure with sampling at any time in the outpatient clinic, and (3) the incidence of adverse events was too low for analyzing the relation with PT.

Conclusions:  We report the distribution of PT for Japanese NVAF patients under rivaroxaban therapy in real-world clinical practice.