Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants for heart diseases

Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are highly effective drugs that prevent venous thrombosis and stroke in atrial fibrillation. Their use has difficulties that are associated with the need for laboratory control and with the influence of many factors on the activity of these medications. The emerged direct oral anticoagulants have some advantages over NOACs. Nevertheless, there are a number of pathological conditions, in which NOACs remain first-line drugs. These include prosthetic mechanical heart valves, a glomerular filtration rate less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2), and left atrial thrombus.