Reply to the Comment on “Comparison of Dabigatran Versus Warfarin Treatment for Prevention of New Cerebral Lesions in Valvular Atrial Fibrillation”

We thank Dr. Abrahim et al for their interest and valuable comment on our study.1 In the methodology section, we intended to recruit stable patients who were able to use the standard anticoagulation in the outpatient setting. Therefore, we excluded the patients with acute stroke within 2  weeks or patients with high-bleeding risk. All the patients received standard rate control therapy according to the relevant guideline.2 The proportion of medications for rate control such as β blocker (56% of overall patients), calcium channel blocker (24%), or digitalis (31%) were already prese nted, and the mean heart rate was 74.1 ± 14.2 beats/min.
Source: The American Journal of Cardiology - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: research