Should heart bypass patients get blood thinners for new atrial fibrillation? major trial aims to find out

NCT ID NCT04045665

First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026

Summary

This study looks at whether adding a blood thinner to standard antiplatelet therapy helps prevent strokes and blood clots in people who develop a new, temporary irregular heartbeat after coronary artery bypass surgery. About 3,200 adults who had bypass surgery and then experienced atrial fibrillation will be randomly assigned to receive either antiplatelet drugs alone or antiplatelet drugs plus a blood thinner. The goal is to balance preventing clots against the risk of major bleeding.

What this could mean

Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only — not medical advice or a prediction.

Active substance
Blood thinners (anticoagulants like warfarin or apixaban) plus antiplatelet drugs (aspirin or clopidogrel)
What this could lead to
If it works, this could show that adding blood thinners after heart bypass surgery reduces the risk of stroke or blood clots in patients who develop temporary atrial fibrillation.
What could go wrong
This is a large phase 3 trial, but it is still ongoing and results are not yet known. Adding blood thinners may increase the risk of serious bleeding, and the benefit may not outweigh the risk for all patients.

This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.

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Conditions

The condition(s) this trial relates to.

As listed by the trial registrant

The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.

Contacts and locations

Locations

  • Allegheny Health Network

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15212, United States

  • Ascension St. John

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Tulsa, Oklahoma, 74103, United States

  • Ascension St. Vincent

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Indianapolis, Indiana, 46260, United States

  • Barts Health NHS Trust

    RECRUITING

    London, England, United Kingdom

  • Baylor College of Medicine

    RECRUITING

    Houston, Texas, 77030, United States

  • Baylor Research Institute

    RECRUITING

    Plano, Texas, 75093, United States

  • Baystate Health

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Springfield, Massachusetts, 01199, United States

  • Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

  • Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

    RECRUITING

    Blackpool, United Kingdom

  • Boston Medical Center

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Boston, Massachusetts, 02118, United States

  • Brigham and Women's Hospital

    RECRUITING

    Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, United States

  • CHI St. Vincent, Arkansas

    RECRUITING

    Little Rock, Arkansas, 72205, United States

  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

    RECRUITING

    Los Angeles, California, 90048, United States

  • Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal

    RECRUITING

    Montreal, Quebec, H2W 1T8, Canada

  • Charité Berlin - Benjamin Franklin Campus

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Berlin, Germany

  • Charité Berlin - Rudolf Virchow Campus

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Berlin, Germany

  • Cleveland Clinic Foundation

    RECRUITING

    Cleveland, Ohio, 44195, United States

  • Clinic Bad Neustadt - Medical Center for Heart and Vascular Diseases

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Bad Neustadt an der Saale, Germany

  • Columbia University Medical Center

    RECRUITING

    New York, New York, 10032, United States

  • Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

    RECRUITING

    Lebanon, New Hampshire, 03766, United States

  • Duke University

    RECRUITING

    Durham, North Carolina, 27710, United States

  • East Carolina University

    RECRUITING

    Greenville, North Carolina, 27858, United States

  • Emory University

    RECRUITING

    Atlanta, Georgia, 30308, United States

  • Frankfurt University Hospital

    RECRUITING

    Frankfurt, Germany

  • German Heart Center Berlin

    RECRUITING

    Berlin, Germany

  • German Heart Center Munich

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Munich, Germany

  • HDZ-NRW Bad Oeynhausen

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Bad Oeynhausen, Germany

  • Heart Center Leipzig

    RECRUITING

    Berlin, Brandenburg, 13347, Germany

  • Heart Center, University of Freiburg

    RECRUITING

    Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

  • Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

    RECRUITING

    Düsseldorf, Germany

  • Hospital Samaritano Paulista

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    São Paulo, Brazil

  • Hospital Universitário São Francisco na Providência de Deus

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    São Paulo, Brazil

  • Hospital of the Brothers of Mercy Trier

    RECRUITING

    Trier, Germany

  • Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Cottingham, HU16 5JQ, United Kingdom

  • Hôpital Laval

    RECRUITING

    Québec, G1V 4G5, Canada

  • Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal

    WITHDRAWN

    Montreal, Quebec, H4J 1C5, Canada

  • Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

    RECRUITING

    London, England, United Kingdom

  • Indiana University

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Indianapolis, Indiana, 46202, United States

  • Inova Health

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Falls Church, Virginia, 22042, United States

  • Instituto de Pesquisa Clínica de Campinas

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    São Paulo, Brazil

  • Instituto do Coração do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP-InCor-HCFMUSP

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    São Paulo, Brazil

  • Intermountain CV Research

    RECRUITING

    Murray, Utah, 84107, United States

  • Jersey Shore University Medical Center

    RECRUITING

    Neptune City, New Jersey, 07753, United States

  • Johns Hopkins

    RECRUITING

    Baltimore, Maryland, 21287, United States

  • Kerckhoff Klinik, Bad Nauheim

    RECRUITING

    Bad Nauheim, Germany

  • Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

    RECRUITING

    Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

  • London Health Sciences Centre

    RECRUITING

    London, Ontario, N6A 5A5, Canada

  • Lutheran Medical Center

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Fort Wayne, Indiana, 46825, United States

  • Maine Medical Center

    RECRUITING

    Portland, Maine, 04102, United States

  • Massachusetts General Hospital

    RECRUITING

    Boston, Massachusetts, 02114, United States

  • Mayo Clinic

    RECRUITING

    Rochester, Minnesota, 55905, United States

  • MedStar Washington Hospital Center

    RECRUITING

    Washington D.C., District of Columbia, 20010, United States

  • Medical Center Braunschweig

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Braunschweig, Germany

  • Medical Center of Aurora

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Aurora, Colorado, 80012, United States

  • Medical Center of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Munich, Germany

  • Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center

    RECRUITING

    Houston, Texas, 77030, United States

  • Mid America Health Institute

    RECRUITING

    Kansas City, Missouri, 64111, United States

  • Montefiore Medical Center

    RECRUITING

    The Bronx, New York, 10467, United States

  • Montreal Heart Institute

    RECRUITING

    Montreal, Quebec, H1T 1C8, Canada

  • Northwell Health System

    RECRUITING

    Great Neck, New York, 11023, United States

  • Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

    RECRUITING

    Nottingham, United Kingdom

  • Ochsner Clinic

    RECRUITING

    New Orleans, Louisiana, 70121, United States

  • Ohio State University Medical Center

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Columbus, Ohio, 43210, United States

  • Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Oxford, OX3 9DU, United Kingdom

  • Piedmont Healthcare Inc.

    RECRUITING

    Atlanta, Georgia, 30309, United States

  • Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Cambridge, United Kingdom

  • Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

    RECRUITING

    Wolverhampton, England, United Kingdom

  • Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Sheffield, United Kingdom

  • South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

    RECRUITING

    Middlesbrough, United Kingdom

  • Stanford University

    RECRUITING

    Stanford, California, 94305, United States

  • Suburban Hospital

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Bethesda, Maryland, 20814, United States

  • Sunnybrook Hospital

    RECRUITING

    Toronto, Ontario, M4N 3M5, Canada

  • The Mount Sinai Hospital

    WITHDRAWN

    New York, New York, 10029, United States

  • Toronto General Hospital

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Toronto, Canada

  • University Heart Center Hamburg

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Berlin, Brandenburg, 11353, Germany

  • University Hospital Bonn

    RECRUITING

    Bonn, Germany

  • University Hospital Magdeburg

    RECRUITING

    Magdeburg, Germany

  • University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

    RECRUITING

    Southampton, United Kingdom

  • University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust

    RECRUITING

    Bristol, BS1 3NU, United Kingdom

  • University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Plymouth, United Kingdom

  • University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

    RECRUITING

    Worthing, BN11 2DH, United Kingdom

  • University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Leicester, United Kingdom

  • University Medical Center Frankfurt

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Frankfurt, Germany

  • University Medical Center Göttingen

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany

  • University Medical Center Halle

    RECRUITING

    Halle, Germany

  • University Medical Center Heidelberg

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Heidelberg, Germany

  • University Medical Center Jena

    RECRUITING

    Jena, Thuringia, Germany

  • University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein Kiel

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Kiel, Germany

  • University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein Lübeck

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Lübeck, Germany

  • University of Alberta Hospital

    RECRUITING

    Edmonton, Alberta, T6G2B7, Canada

  • University of Maryland

    RECRUITING

    Baltimore, Maryland, 21201, United States

  • University of Michigan

    RECRUITING

    Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, United States

  • University of Oldenburg

    RECRUITING

    Oldenburg, Germany

  • University of Ottawa Heart Institute

    NOT_YET_RECRUITING

    Ottawa, Canada

  • University of Pennsylvania

    RECRUITING

    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104, United States

  • University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

    WITHDRAWN

    Hermitage, Pennsylvania, 16148, United States

  • University of Southern California

    RECRUITING

    Los Angeles, California, 90033, United States

  • University of Utah

    RECRUITING

    Salt Lake City, Utah, 84112, United States

  • University of Vermont

    RECRUITING

    Burlington, Vermont, 05401, United States

  • University of Virginia Health System

    RECRUITING

    Charlottesville, Virginia, 22908, United States

  • University of Wisconsin

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Madison, Wisconsin, 53792, United States

  • WakeMed

    WITHDRAWN

    Raleigh, North Carolina, 27610, United States

  • Washington University School of Medicine

    RECRUITING

    St Louis, Missouri, 63110, United States

  • West Virginia University

    RECRUITING

    Morgantown, West Virginia, 26506, United States

  • Western Connecticut Hospital Systems

    ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

    Danbury, Connecticut, 06810, United States

  • Yale Medicine

    RECRUITING

    New Haven, Connecticut, 06520-8039, United States

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