Rivaroxaban and other novel anticoagulants for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation: time to embrace the future

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is now said to be at epidemic proportions.1 Although symptoms and heart failure are two of the main reasons that patients with AF suffer from reduced quality of life, thromboembolic complications, particularly stroke, remain the major determinant of significant morbidity and mortality.2 Importantly, the risk of thromboembolism (TE) is completely irrespective of symptoms, and hence the sad fact that people continue to present with catastrophic stroke in AF with no prior history of its detection.3 Appropriate anticoagulation is imperative to reduce the TE/stroke risk. Numerous large scale studies have demonstrated the benefit of appropriate anticoagulation, specifically using coumadin analogues such as warfarin.4 However, despite recognition by all members of the medical community that this risk needs to be addressed, there is still systematic underuse of anticoagulation5 with the rather depressing statistic that as few as...
Source: Heart - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Drugs: cardiovascular system, Epidemiology Editorials Source Type: research