Oral anticoagulants are the cornerstone of stroke risk prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation, regardless of whether sinus rhythm is restored. Evidence from two new randomized trials questions the need for long-term treatment with oral anticoagulants after successful ablation of atrial fibrillation and promises to change clinical practice.
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G.F.R. reports consultancy for Boehringer Ingelheim and an educational grant from Anthos, outside the submitted work; no fees were directly received personally. M.P. reports small speaker’s fees from Bristol Myers Squibb/Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, consulting activities for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and a role as the Italian national principal investigator of the AFFIRMO project on multimorbidity in atrial fibrillation, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 899871.
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Romiti, G.F., Proietti, M. Oral anticoagulant therapy after ablation for atrial fibrillation. Nat Rev Cardiol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-026-01248-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-026-01248-0
