ENhanced Recovery and ABbreviated LEngth of Anticoagulation for Thromboprophylaxis After Primary Hip Arthroplasty (ENABLE-Hip)

January 15, 2025 updated by: Prof. Stavros Konstantinides, MD
Surgical hip replacement (total hip arthroplasty, THA) is associated with a high risk of venous thromboembolism, but the appropriate duration of postoperative medical thromboprophylaxis ("anticoagulation") remains highly controversial. The international randomized controlled trial (RCT) "ENhanced recovery and ABbreviated LEngth of Anticoagulation for Thromboprophylaxis after primary Hip Arthroplasty" (ENABLE-Hip) will enroll patients undergoing elective THA that are eligible for early mobilization after surgery. The trial will compare a regimen of short-duration (10-day) postoperative anticoagulation (experimental group) to standard-duration (35-day) postoperative anticoagulation (control group) using the direct oral anticoagulant Rivaroxaban (brand name: Xarelto) at the recommended dose. Thus, ENABLE-Hip will be the first major RCT to directly test an overall reduction in the duration of post-THA thromboprophylaxis instead of replacing one antithrombotic drug or regimen by another. Follow-up visits after hospital discharge will be on day 35 and on day 90 after surgery. The primary outcome is acute symptomatic proximal deep vein thrombosis, or symptomatic or fatal pulmonary embolism, within 90 days after surgery. If ENABLE-Hip will demonstrate 'non-inferiority' of the experimental intervention, its benefits will be obvious, as patients are spared many days of unnecessary (and potentially harmful in terms of bleeding risk) anticoagulation.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

An increasing proportion of the ageing population in Europe and other parts of the world suffers from hip osteoarthritis and will need surgical joint arthroplasty at some time in their lives. Surgical total hip arthroplasty (THA) is associated with a high risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), but the appropriate duration of postoperative anticoagulation remains highly controversial. Although current German guidelines continue to advocate anticoagulation for 28-35 days after THA, clinical practice recommendations in other countries are shifting towards much earlier discontinuation of anticoagulants - despite the absence of solid evidence backed by controlled data. The "Enhanced recovery and Abbreviated duration of Anticoagulation for thromboprophylaxis after primary hip Arthroplasty" (ENABLE-Hip) study is a multicentre investigator-initiated and academically sponsored prospective randomised active-control non-inferiority trial. A regimen of short-duration (10-day) prophylactic anticoagulation (experimental arm) will be compared to standard-duration (35-day) anticoagulation as per current guidelines (control arm). Patients will be mobilised early after surgery, following a standardised enhanced recovery protocol. Following randomisation and an initial two-day open-label period of prophylactic anticoagulation as per local protocol, treatment with the study drug (rivaroxaban at the standard, approved prophylactic dose of 10 mg daily) will be started and continued until 10 days after surgery. After this time, patients will be switched (in a double-blinded manner) to placebo in the experimental arm, or continue on active drug in the control arm, until a total of 35 days have elapsed since surgery. The primary outcome is acute symptomatic proximal deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or symptomatic or fatal pulmonary embolism (PE), within the first 3 months after surgery. Participating investigators will be advised to adhere to guideline recommendations regarding clinical suspicion of and diagnostic work-up for VTE. The planned study population of 2,932 patients will provide ≥ 80% power to reject the null hypothesis that δ ≥ 0.01 (where δ = difference between the two arms in symptomatic VTE probability within 3 months) and accept the alternative hypothesis that δ < 0.01, at an overall significance level α = 0.05. A formal interim analysis will be performed after 3-month follow-up of the first 1,760 randomised patients at a significance level α = 0.50, leading to stopping for futility if significance is not obtained, or if recalculation yields an overall sample size of > 3,200 patients. The trial has the potential to inform future national and European guidelines for this large and continuously growing patient population.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

2932

Phase

  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

    • Upper Austria
      • Linz, Upper Austria, Austria, 4020
      • Berlin, Germany, 13589
        • Recruiting
        • Evangelical Forest Hospital Berlin - Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Ulrich Nöth, Professor
    • Brandenburg
      • Kremmen, Brandenburg, Germany, 16766
        • Recruiting
        • Sana Clinics Sommerfeld, Dpt. for Surgical Orthopaedics
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Andreas Halder, Professor
    • Hesse
      • Rüsselsheim, Hesse, Germany, 65428
        • Recruiting
        • GPR Rüsselsheim Health and Care Center
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Manfred Krieger, MD
        • Contact:
    • Rhineland-Palatine
      • Mainz, Rhineland-Palatine, Germany, 55131
        • Recruiting
        • University Medical Center Mainz, Center for Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Philipp Drees, Professor
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Thomas Klonschinski, MD
    • Saxony
      • Dresden, Saxony, Germany, 01307
        • Recruiting
        • University Medical Center Dresden, University Center for Orthopaedics, Trauma & Plastic Surgery
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Jens Goronzy, MD
        • Contact:
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Written informed consent
  2. Age between 18 and 85 years
  3. Scheduled to undergo elective unilateral primary THA and eligible for perioperative management based on the ERAS protocol
  4. Baseline Timed Up and Go (TUG) test scoring < 20 seconds, corresponding to a good mobility status before surgery
  5. Capability to understand and comply with the protocol requirements (e.g., sufficient knowledge of German language to answer the questionnaires, ability to swallow intact capsules).
  6. Pregnancy and contraception:

    1. Pregnancy test: Negative serum pregnancy test at screening for women of childbearing potential (WOCBP).
    2. Contraception: WOCBP and men who are able to father a child, willing to be abstinent or use highly effective methods of birth control that result in a low failure rate of less than 1% per year when used consistently and correctly beginning at informed consent, for the duration of drug treatment and allowing for a safe wash out period of at least 5 days for female or for male subjects after the last dose of trial medication. This is a very conservative estimate, considering the 'worst case scenario' of a substantially prolonged half-life up to 13 hours (e.g., in older patients and/or those with renal dysfunction) (28), and calculating for at least 8 half-lives to ensure practically non-detectable levels and effects of rivaroxaban.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Previous DVT or PE
  2. Hip or lower limb fracture in the previous three months
  3. Major surgical procedure within the previous three months
  4. Active cancer defined as metastatic cancer, or cancer requiring chemotherapy or radiation therapy
  5. Active peptic ulcer disease, gastritis, or prior gastrointestinal bleeding
  6. Obesity with body mass index (BMI) > 40 kg/m2 body surface area
  7. Severe renal impairment defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate < 30ml/min
  8. Severe hepatic impairment defined as Child Pugh Class B or C
  9. Uncontrolled intercurrent illness (i.e., active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, uncontrolled hypertension, unstable angina pectoris, interstitial lung disease, serious gastrointestinal conditions [e.g., diarrhea, malabsorption], psychiatric illness)
  10. Active or recent major bleeding at any site, or presence of any major risk factor for bleeding, which, in the judgment of the investigator, may significantly increase the bleeding risk during postoperative anticoagulation treatment
  11. Any other medical condition representing a contraindication to discharge within 6 days after surgery
  12. Expected requirement for major surgery within a 90-day period post THA
  13. Need for long-term anticoagulation (e.g., atrial fibrillation, previous VTE)
  14. Need for chronic antiplatelet therapy except for acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) at a dose ≤ 100 mg daily or clopidogrel 75 mg daily
  15. Previous participation in this trial
  16. Life expectancy < 6 months
  17. Participation in another interventional clinical trial within the last 30 days prior to inclusion, unless during the observational follow-up period
  18. History of hypersensitivity to the investigational medicinal product (IMP) or to any drug with similar chemical structure or to any excipient present in the pharmaceutical form of the IMP

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Abbreviated lenght of thromboprophylaxis
Rivaroxaban from day 3-10; Placebo from day 11-35 after surgery
Placebo
Direct oral anticoagulant
Other Names:
  • Rivaroxaban
  • Xarelto
  • DOAC
  • anticoag
  • Direct oral anticoagulant
Active Comparator: Standard of care
Rivaroxaban from day 3-35 after surgery
Direct oral anticoagulant
Other Names:
  • Rivaroxaban
  • Xarelto
  • DOAC
  • anticoag
  • Direct oral anticoagulant

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The primary efficacy endpoint is the rate of acute symptomatic or fatal VTE
Time Frame: within 90 days after surgery
acute symptomatic or fatal VTE, defined as (i) symptomatic DVT of the popliteal or more proximal leg veins (femoral or iliac veins) or inferior vena cava; or (ii) symptomatic (segmental or more proximal) or fatal PE, occurring in the first 90 days after surgery and confirmed by objective testing.
within 90 days after surgery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Length of hospital stay
Time Frame: within 90 days after surgery
duration of inpatient stay
within 90 days after surgery
Changes in patient-reported hip joint-specific disability
Time Frame: within 90 days after surgery
assessment is made following surgery measured by the HOOS-12 score
within 90 days after surgery
Rate of clinically relevant non-major bleedings
Time Frame: within 90 days after surgery
it does not meet the criteria for major bleeding, but results in hospitalization, aspiration of a wound, or a wound hematoma complicated by infection.
within 90 days after surgery
Rate of death from any cause
Time Frame: within 90 days after surgery
rate of death from any cause
within 90 days after surgery
Rate of isolated symptomatic distal DVT
Time Frame: within 90 days after surgery
rate of symptomatic distal DVT
within 90 days after surgery
Rate of myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke
Time Frame: within 90 days after surgery
rate of MI or stroke
within 90 days after surgery
Rate of readmission to the hospital
Time Frame: within 90 days after surgery
rate of readmissions to the hospital
within 90 days after surgery
Number and terms of serious adverse events (SAEs)
Time Frame: within 90 days after surgery
number of SAEs during study duration
within 90 days after surgery
Change in patient mobility
Time Frame: within 90 days after surgery
measured by Range of motion (ROM) and Timed up and Go (TUG) score
within 90 days after surgery
Amount of postoperative healthcare resource utilization
Time Frame: within 35 days after surgery
visits to health care providers and rehospitalization, employment status
within 35 days after surgery
Rate of major bleedings
Time Frame: within 90 days after surgery
fulfils at least one of the following criteria: (i) fatal (ii) bleeding into a critical area or organ (iii) surgical site bleeding that causes hemodynamic instability (iv) non-surgical site bleeding causing a fall in hemoglobin level of ≥ 20 g L-1, or leading to transfusion of ≥ 2 units of whole blood or red blood cells (v) surgical site bleeding that requires a second intervention (open, arthroscopic, endovascular), or hemarthron of sufficient size to delay mobilization or wound healing
within 90 days after surgery
Generic quality of life measured by EQ-5D-5L
Time Frame: within 90 days after surgery

The EQ-5D is not an abbreviation and is the correct term to use in print or verbally.

EQ-5D-5L consists of 2 parts:

  1. descriptive system consists of 5 dimensions with 5 levels each. A score of 5 at a minimum means best health state; a score of 25 at a maximum means worst health state.
  2. EQ VAS: a scale from 0 (worst health state) to 100 (best health state) is provided.

This questionnaire is to be completed by the patient for the current day.

within 90 days after surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Stavros V. Konstantinides, MD, Univ.-Prof., University Medical Center Mainz, Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis
  • Study Chair: Philipp Drees, MD, Univ.-Prof., University Medical Center Mainz, Center for Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

November 26, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

July 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 23, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 23, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

September 24, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 15, 2025

Last Verified

January 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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