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A New Era of Antithrombotic Therapy in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation
The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 07/31/2012
Clinical Article
Golwala H et al. – This article will review 3 new antithrombotic medications that may potentially become the mainstay for treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation in the near future.
- Atrial fibrillation/flutter is the most common cardiac arrhythmia that can potentially result in stroke and death.
- For many years, aspirin and warfarin have been the cornerstone of stroke prevention among such patients.
- Although warfarin therapy has been advocated for patients with high likelihood of stroke, it requires close surveillance and monitoring, has a narrow therapeutic window and is quite often affected by medication interactions and diet.
- Thus, the need for a better and more consistent anticoagulant therapy was necessary and has been under development with various successes for many years.