[Improvements in oral anticoagulant therapy for atrial fibrillation]

For the last decades vitamin K antagonists have been the most effective anticoagulant treatment of atrial fibrillation. New molecules are being designed, mainly due to the great amount of disadvantages in the management of conventional anticoagulation. Dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban will soon be available as an alternative to warfarin/acenocumarol. All of them have demonstrated to be non-inferior to warfarin in preventing stroke and systemic embolism, with even dabigatran 150 mg bid and apixaban being superior. They have also a lower risk of bleeding, especially regarding severe/fatal and intracranial hemorrhages. This is a real revolution. The advance of these new anticoagulants will be limited only by the higher cost, and will progressively become the protagonists of oral anticoagulation in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.