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Updated: Nov 21, 2025

The WATCHMAN Left Atrial Appendage Closure Device for Atrial Fibrillation
Published on: February 28, 2012
[Towards new indications for direct oral anticoagulants]
Pierre Fontana1, Helia Robert-Ebadi1, Marc Righini1
1Service d'angiologie et d'hémostase, HUG, 1211 Genève 14.
Abstract:
Direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) represent commonly prescribed drugs in everyday clinical practice for indications such as atrial fibrillation, prevention of venous thromboembolic disease (VTE) after major orthopaedic surgery, treatment of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and long term prevention of VTE recurrence. More recently, the efficacy of DOAC has been demonstrated in new clinical situations, such as heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, cancer-associated VTE and secondary prevention of cardiovascular events in patients with atherothrombotic arterial disease. This article's aims is to present the recent data on which these new indications are based.
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