Tag Archives: VKAs

When the NOACs (novel oral anticoagulants) were introduced over three years ago, they promised to revitalise the management of conditions such as atrial fibrillation (AF), venous thromboembolism (VTE) and thromboprophylaxis after major joint replacement surgery. Rivaroxaban is currently available in multiple indications, including (but not limited to): prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in adult patients with non-valvular AF, treatment of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), and the prevention of recurrent DVT and PE in adults. For decades anticoagulant therapy in these conditions had relied on the vitamin K antagon

X-VERT: rivaroxaban▼ an alternative to VKA in cardioversion for AF Watch Professor Keith Fox, Chairman of the ESC programme committee discussing the relevance of X-VERT and other studies for UK practice in our podcast from the ESC Oral anticoagulant therapy with rivaroxaban is an alternative to vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) in patients with AF who are undergoing elective cardioversion according to the results of the X-VERT study.1 In addition, rivaroxaban may potentially have one important advantage over VKAs, with a shorter time to cardioversion, the study suggests. Professor Riccardo Cappato (University of Milan, Italy), the co-principal

Summary Oral anticoagulation has been restricted to vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) for more than 50 years. Starting in the last decade of the past century, central coagulation factors such as thrombin and factor Xa were explored as potential targets for the development of novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs). This led to the successful development and approval of a novel class of direct oral anticoagulants targeting factor Xa. Rivaroxaban was the first of the novel class of agents named ‘xabans’ that are direct oral factor Xa inhibitors. Since its initial approval for thromboembolic prophylaxis after hip and knee surgery in 2008, rivaroxaban a