Vol 49, No 3 (2015)
Intracranial bleedings in patients on long-term anticoagulant treatment: Benefits from oral thrombin and factor Xa inhibitors in clinical practice
DOI: 10.1016/j.pjnns.2015.04.007
Neurol Neurochir Pol 2015;49(3):171-179.
Abstract
Dabigatran, a direct thrombin inhibitor and activated factor X inhibitors, rivaroxaban and apixaban, used in the prevention of stroke or systemic embolism in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF), have several advantages over vitamin K antagonists (VKAs). The non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs) have been shown to reduce the risk of intracranial bleedings by 50%. The current review summarizes the available data on the epidemiology, mechanisms and treatment of intracranial bleedings observed on oral anticoagulation with the focus on the specificity of NOACs in this context.
Keywords: Non-vitamin K oral anticoagulantIntracranial bleedingStroke