Heart Health
Clot prevention with a mechanical heart valve
Ask the doctor
That's the situation with novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs). They are approved for preventing blood clots in people with specific conditions, including atrial fibrillation, deep-vein thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism. For these people, the drugs — which include apixaban (Eliquis), dabigatran (Pradaxa), edoxaban (Savaysa), and rivaroxaban (Xarelto) — prevent clots at least as well as warfarin. But NOACs have far fewer interactions with drugs and foods; they don't require blood tests or frequent dose adjustments; and they cause half as much brain bleeding as warfarin.
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