Title:Acute Coronary Syndromes in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and Heart Failure. Could Novel Oral Anticoagulants be the Solution of the Optimal Antithrombotic Therapy Puzzle?
Volume: 12
Issue: 1
Author(s): Maria Boutsikou, Chrysafios Girasis, Emmanouil Petrou and Gregory Pavlides
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Acute coronary syndromes, atrial fibrillation and heart failure, novel oral anticoagulants.
Abstract: The patients experiencing an acute coronary event are exposed to increased risk of thromboembolic events.
That risk becomes substantially greater when AF fibrillation and heart failure are present as well. Dual antiplatelet therapy
remains the gold standard in the treatment of patients with ACS. The combination of an oral anticoagulant agent with dual
antiplatelet therapy is proven to be more effective in prevention of further antithrombotic events but is followed by
increased risks of clinically significant bleeding thus it is not suggested in the treatment of ACS. However, it has been
proven beneficial in patients with AF who present with an acute coronary episode. NOACs have proved to be at least as
effective as vitamin K antagonists in protecting patients with atrial fibrillation from thromboembolic events without
increased risk of major bleeding. However, only data on the effectiveness of NOACS in patients with ACS and AF have
been quite contradictory. Even more, the data on the effect of NOACS in patients with concomitant HF and AF who
present with an acute coronary event is almost lacking from current bibliography. In this review, we attempt to describe
the available data of the use of NOACS in patients with AF and HF who experience an ACS and to address the need for
further studies in this area.