[Stroke prevention with direct oral anticoagulants in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation].

The development of the direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) represents one of the major breakthroughs in modern medicine over the last decade. Compared to vitamin K antagonists, all DOACs (dabigatran as a thrombin-Inhibitor, rivaroxaban, apixaban and edoxaban as factor Xa inhibitors) are much easier to handle due to their pharmacological properties. All DOACS are more efficacious and safer as vitamin K antagonists as demonstrated in the pivotal studies in more than 71,000 patients. Particularly the much lower risk of intracerebral bleeding complications is the reason why the DOACs should be preferred over vitamin K antagonists in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation.