Atrial Fibrillation or Pulmonary Embolism Clinical Trial
Official title:
Influence of Rivaroxaban Compared to Vitamin K Antagonist Treatment Upon Development of Cardiovascular Calcification in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation and/ or Pulmonary Embolism (IRIVASC- Trial)
The following trial hypothesis will be proved: In patients with atrial fibrillation and/ or pulmonary embolism standard anticoagulant treatment with coumadin/phenprocoumon is associated with accelerated coronary or valvular calcification as assessed by cardiac computed tomography compared to the new anticoagulant therapy with rivaroxaban.
A multi center, prospective, controlled, open, randomized, interventional clinical trial blinded concerning outcome measurements with a two- arm parallel group design will be performed to investigate the association of rivaroxaban compared to coumadin/phenprocoumon treatment for OAT in patients with atrial fibrillation and / or pulmonary embolism regarding the development and progression of coronary artery calcification (CAC) and aortic valve calcification (AVC) as assessed by multi-slice spiral computed tomography scanning (MSCT) within one year follow-up. In total 190 patients (95 patients per treatment arm) with atrial fibrillation and/ or pulmonary embolism with the indication for oral anticoagulation therapy will be enrolled. After screening first cardiac CT scan will be performed in order to validate if calcium score is >50 which is an inclusion criteria. If the patient matches all other inclusion/exclusion criteria the remaining imaging procedures (Echocardiography, Intima Media Thickness of carotid artery (IMT) and Flow Mediated Vasodilatation (FMD), Electrocardiography (ECG) and blood pressure are executed. Pregnancy strip test will be executed and also serum chemistry, hematology, coagulation and batch analysis will be performed. Patients will then be randomized to one of the two arms (Rivaroxaban or Marcumar) and will undergo the same examinations and measurements as described above at 1 week, 1, 6, 9 and 12 month Follow- Up (FU). In case of a positive result in respect to the primary endpoint a FU after 2 years will be performed. Primary outcome measures will be assessed after all active patients will have completed 12-months study visit (interim analysis) ;