Tag Archives: Medicine Management Committees

ESC guidelines and differences between NOACs Following the roll-out of the novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs), the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) published in 2012 a focused update of its guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation (AF). Since the NOACs tested in clinical trials all showed at least non-inferiority when compared with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs), with a better safety profile, particularly with reduction in intracranial haemorrhage (ICH), the ESC 2012 guideline recommended NOACs as broadly preferable to VKAs in the vast majority of patients with non-valvular AF (NVAF).1 In 2013, the European Heart Rhythm Associati