Intracranial bleedings in patients on long-term anticoagulant treatment: Benefits from oral thrombin and factor Xa inhibitors in clinical practice.

Maria Łukasik, Krystyna Zawilska, Anetta Undas

Journal: Neurologia i neurochirurgia polska 2015;49(3):171-9

PMID: 26048605

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.

Address: Department of Neurology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland. Electronic address: [email protected].; Diagnostic and Treatment Centre INTERLAB, Poznan, Poland. Electronic address: [email protected].; Institute of Cardiology, Jagiellonian University School of Medicine and John Paul II Hospital, Krakow, Poland. Electronic address: [email protected].

DOI: 10.1016/j.pjnns.2015.04.007

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https://medlineplus.gov/bloodthinners.html

MeSH Terms: Anticoagulants, Atrial Fibrillation, Factor Xa Inhibitors, Humans, Intracranial Hemorrhages, Thrombin