Oral anticoagulants for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation: current status, special situations, and unmet needs

Publication date: Available online 14 March 2015 Source:The Lancet Author(s): Freek W A Verheugt , Christopher B Granger In patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation, oral anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists reduces the risk of stroke by more than 60%. But vitamin K antagonists have limitations, including causing serious bleeding such as intracranial haemorrhage and the need for anticoagulation monitoring. In part related to these limitations, they are used in only about half of patients who should be treated according to guideline recommendations. In the past decade, oral agents have been developed that directly block the activity of thrombin (factor IIa), as well as drugs that directly inhibit activated factor X (Xa), which is the first protein in the final common pathway to the activation of thrombin. These novel non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) have been shown to be at least as good as warfarin for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation and they have proved to have better safety profiles. Their net advantage is underscored by significantly lower all-cause mortality compared with warfarin in large clinical trials. Because of these features and their ease of use, they are recommended for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. They have also a fast onset and offset of action, but they currently lack specific antidotes. This paper addresses the role of anticoagulation for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation in the era of NOACs, ...
Source: The Lancet - Category: Journals (General) Source Type: research