Percutaneous coronary intervention in the patient on oral anticoagulation

The management of patients committed to long-term oral anticoagulation, such as those with atrial fibrillation at moderate to high risk of stroke, mechanical heart valves, and previous arterial/venous thromboembolism, who are submitted to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has become an issue of increasing importance in the last years. Guidelines/expert consensus papers addressing the complex management of this population, which is estimated to represent about 5 to 10% of all patients referred for PCI, have been recently made available. As underlined in the most recent guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation issued by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) however, "guidelines are no substitutes for textbooks". This pocketbook addresses the key management points and summarizes the properties of the stents and the clinical pharmacology of the antithrombotic agents to be used in these patients. It will be a useful guide for clinical and interventional cardiologists, internists, surgeons, primary care doctors, and other physicians who care for these patients.