Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 27, 2026

The WATCHMAN Left Atrial Appendage Closure Device for Atrial Fibrillation
Published on: February 28, 2012
[Anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation: a new era has begun]
1Universitätsklinik Freiburg, Innere Medizin III (Kardiologie und Angiologie), Freiburg.
Abstract:
Atrial fibrillation is one of the most frequent reasons for therapeutic anticoagulation in everyday practice. Oral vitamin K antagonists such as Marcumar have been state of the art anticoagulants to prevent thrombembolic events in patients with atrial fibrillation and additional risk factors. But these drugs are accompanied by disadvantages such as increased bleeding risk and impaired quality of life caused by interactions with food or other medications as well as frequent controls of INRs. The new anticoagulants apixaban, rivaroxaban and dabigatran are direct antagonists of coagulation factors (FXa or FIIa) and demonstrate a promising risk/benefit profile in large clinical trials compared with vitamin K antagonists. Their approval for clinical use will open up new therapeutic perspectives for patients with atrial fibrillation and indication for anticoagulation.
Related Concept Videos
Anticoagulant Drugs: Low-Molecular-Weight Heparins
Venous Thrombosis III: Interprofessional Care
Anticoagulant Drugs: Vitamin K Antagonists and Direct Oral Anticoagulants
Warfarin, a prominent vitamin K antagonist family member, exerts its effect by inhibiting the enzyme VKORC1 (vitamin K epoxide reductase complex 1). By hindering this enzyme, warfarin...
Antiplatelet Drugs: Prostaglandin Synthesis, P2Y12 and Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa Inhibitors
Prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors, exemplified by the widely known aspirin, wield their power by irreversibly acetylating...
Venous Thrombosis I: Introduction
Endocarditis III: Medical Management
