Interrupting anticoagulation in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.

ABSTRACT: Three target-specific oral anticoagulants (TSOACs)-dabigatran, rivaroxaban, and apixaban-have been approved by the FDA to reduce the risk of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation; however, no agents are currently approved to reverse the anticoagulant effects of these TSOACs in cases of active bleeding. This review discusses the benefits and risks of these TSOACs from a clinician's perspective, with a focus on the interruption of treatment for either elective or emergent surgery, monitoring, and reversal of anticoagulation. Available coagulation assays are not ideal for monitoring the effects of TSOACs and do not provide reliable quantitative measurement of their anticoagulant effects. When necessary, activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) may p

SUBMITTER: Yates SW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4264672 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature