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Practical Guide to Direct New Oral Anticoagulant Use for Secondary Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation

  • Cerebrovascular Disease and Stroke (N Rost, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

Anticoagulation remains the optimal treatment choice for secondary stroke prevention of AF. The vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) have been the choice of treatment for the last 60 years, but the new oral anticoagulants are now a safe option for treatment of non-valvular AF (NVAF) in the right patient population, taking into account age, renal function, bleeding risk, cardiovascular comorbidities, cost, and drug interactions.

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References and Recommended Reading

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Rochelle Sweis DO & José Biller MD, FACP, FAAN, FANA, FAHA

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  1. Rochelle Sweis DO
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  2. José Biller MD, FACP, FAAN, FANA, FAHA
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Correspondence to Rochelle Sweis DO.

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Rochelle Sweis declares no potential conflicts of interest.

José Biller is the editor of Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases, field editor of Frontiers of Neurology, and on the stroke editorial board of Up-To-Date.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Cerebrovascular Disease and Stroke

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Sweis, R., Biller, J. Practical Guide to Direct New Oral Anticoagulant Use for Secondary Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation. Curr Treat Options Cardio Med 18, 24 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11936-016-0446-x

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