Safe Use of New Oral Anticoagulants in Patients Treated by Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation

Use of new oral anticoagulants (NOAC) in patients before and after radiofrequency ablation with pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is still controversial. Experience is reported from consecutive patients ablated with PVI for atrial fibrillation and treated with dabigatran, rivaroxaban, or apixaban from Nov 2011 until Dec 2014. Patients paused their NOAC treatment for 24 hours before ablation. Patients were routinely followed up after 3 months with a standard formular focused on possible adverse events (major bleeding complications or thromboembolic events) to NOAC treatment. Adverse events related to the use of NOAC were registered during treatment or during 3 months of follow-up.