Charlène Coquard, Ghassan Moubarak, Mathilde Baudet, Damien Logeart, Jean-Guillaume Dillinger, Alain Cohen-Solal

Abstract

Patients scheduled for atrial fibrillation (AF) cardioversion were excluded from clinical trials of novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs).

We evaluated the efficacy and safety of NOACs in patients undergoing electrical cardioversion for AF.

We performed a monocentric study of all patients on NOACs who underwent elective electrical cardioversion for non-valvular AF between January 2012 and December 2014. We analyzed the incidence of stroke and bleeding at 30 days.

Fifty patients were included, 28 receiving dabigatran, 22 rivaroxaban. Mean age was 65 ± 12 years. Mean CHADS2-VA2SC and HASBLED scores were 3 ± 1.8 and 2.2 ± 1.1 respectively. Transoesophageal echocardiography was performed in 41 (79%) patients, revealing a thrombus in 2 (5%). No clinical evidence of stroke occurred in the 30 days, 1 major gastrointestinal bleeding (2%) in a patient on rivaroxaban (led to premature discontinuation) and 3 minor bleedings.

NOACs seem to be safe in daily practice of electrical cardioversion in our population.

Keywords

Atrial Fibrillation; Electrical Cardioversion; Novel oral anticoagulants, Stroke

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References

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