Apixaban Shows No Increased Risk of MRI-Detected Intracranial Hemorrhage Compared to Aspirin in Atrial Cardiopathy

Highlight

• The ARCADIA-MRI ancillary study found no statistically significant difference in incident intracranial hemorrhages (>10 mm) between patients treated with apixaban and those treated with aspirin.
• The rates of incident cerebral microbleeds and cortical superficial siderosis (CSS) were comparable between the two treatment arms over a median follow-up of 27 months.
• These findings suggest that for patients with atrial cardiopathy and cryptogenic stroke, the use of an oral anticoagulant (apixaban) does not increase the burden of subclinical or overt hemorrhagic lesions compared to antiplatelet therapy (aspirin).

Background: The Challenge of Atrial Cardiopathy and Cryptogenic Stroke