Hi!
I was wondering which of the medications between Aspirin/Acetylsalicylic acid and Apixaban/Eliquis has the lowest/mildest bleeding risk or side affects? I have read that Aspirin seems to have lower bleeding risk, if that’s the case, then why so many doctors not give their patients aspirin instead of Eliquis for treating blood clots/DVT? Because I am in my 4th month on Eliquis for unprovoked DVT. Thanks!
Kind regards, Imran
This treatment decision is not made solely based on bleeding risk.
Aspirin is an anti-platelet agent, whereas Apixaban is an anticoagulant.
Aspirin is useful for preventing new clots from forming in the arterial system (such as in the coronary, cerebral, or peripheral arteries), but is insufficient to treat existing venous clots that have already formed and stabilized through the coagulation cascade.
In other words, anticoagulants like Apixaban are much more effective at treating (and at preventing) DVTs. And as it turns out, apixaban actually has a similar bleeding risk compared with aspirin (source: Bleeding Risks With Non-Vitamin K Oral Anticoagulants Versus Single Antiplatelet Therapy : A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Trials - PubMed ).
So you are taking the medicine with a similar bleeding risk as aspirin, but that is much more effective at both treating venous clots, as well as preventing future clots.