Stroke Prevention, Evaluation of Bleeding Risk, and Anticoagulant Treatment Management in Atrial Fibrillation Contemporary International Guidelines

Publication date: May 2019Source: Canadian Journal of Cardiology, Volume 35, Issue 5Author(s): Marco Proietti, Deirdre A. Lane, Giuseppe Boriani, Gregory Y.H. LipAbstractIn recent years the management of atrial fibrillation patients has progressively and substantially changed because of the introduction of new treatments and the availability of new data regarding the epidemiology and clinical management of these patients. In the past 2 years alone, there have been 7 new guidelines or guideline updates that have been published, which have introduced new recommendations and significantly revised previously published ones. Two updates for Canadian guidelines were published in 2016 and 2018, whereas guidelines from the European Society of Cardiology in 2016, Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society were published in 2017, National Heart Foundation of Australia/Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, American College of Chest Physicians, and Korean Heart Rhythm Society have been published in 2018. In this narrative review we provide a comparison of these contemporary international guidelines, with particular attention on the evaluation of thromboembolic and bleeding risks and management of oral anticoagulant therapy. From the analysis of contemporary guidelines on the management of atrial fibrillation, a general agreement is evident about the baseline evaluation of thromboembolic and bleeding risk, as well as a preference for the use of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants....
Source: Canadian Journal of Cardiology - Category: Cardiology Source Type: research