[New oral anticoagulants: recommendations, precautions and perspectives for use]

In phase III studies, some oral inhibitors of both thrombin (dabigatran etexilate) and activated factor X (rivaroxaban, apixaban) have been employed as new anticoagulant drugs in patients with atrial fibrillation or acute coronary syndromes. Such new drugs have overcome a series of limitations of the standard-of-care warfarin, and argue for the possibility of an easy, widespread use of anticoagulation in vascular medicine. However, to this end, we need information on management of bleeding in patients receiving these drugs. Dabigatran etexilate, rivaroxaban and apixaban affect major laboratory tests for clotting. However, at present we do not know whether and how this information may be clinically useful. Their high cost is another major issue, and newer pharmacoeconomic studies are needed to evaluate their cost-effectiveness ratio vs warfarin.