Monitoring of apixaban
Monitoring the anticoagulant effect of apixaban is not required. However, testing can be useful when knowing the degree of anticoagulation can alter patient management, such as for clinically significant bleeding, urgent surgery, or following stroke or thromboembolism in a patient taking apixaban.
Standard coagulation assays of haemostasis (such as activated partial thromboplastin time [APTT] and prothrombin time [PT]) have low sensitivity and cannot reliably confirm or exclude the presence of apixaban. Quantify the drug concentration with an anti-Xa assay using apixaban-specific calibrators.