Oral anticoagulant interruption and stroke: are we doing our best?

In this issue of European Journal of Neurology, Kim et al. bring to us a relevant study on the incidence of oral anticoagulant (OAC) interruption in patients with atrial fibrillation and subsequent stroke. It is still surprising to see that in the 21st century we are still facing lack of compliance to therapy leading to a potentially devastating condition such as stroke. In a multicenter trial carried out in 11 Korean centers over two years, 3,213 consecutive acute ischemic stroke patients with atrial fibrillation were surveyed and studied. The main finding in the study was that about 7.1% of stroke patients with atrial fibrillation experienced OAC interruption and that recurrent infarction during OAC withdrawal developed in 4.0% of overall OAC interruption cases, reinforcing previous evidence.