Adherence to a new oral anticoagulant treatment prescription: dabigatran etexilate

The recent development of new oral anticoagulants, of which dabigatran etexilate is currently at the most advanced stage of development, is the greatest advance in the provision of convenient anticoagulation therapy for many years. A new oral anticoagulation treatment, dabigatran etexilate, is already on the market in Europe. The main interest probably will be to improve the prescription and the adherence to an effective thromboprophylaxis in medical conditions such as atrial fibrillation without bleeding side effects, without the need for monitoring coagulation, and without drug and food interactions such as vitamin K anticoagulant (VKA) treatment. Dabigatran is particularly interesting for extended thromboprophylaxis after major orthopedic surgery in order to avoid daily injection for a month. However, oral long-term treatments such as VKA are not systematically associated with a higher compliance level than injected treatments such as low-molecular-weight heparins. Indeed, adherence to an oral treatment, instead of the usual daily injection in major orthopedic surgery, is complex, and based not only on the frequency of dosing but also on patient motivation, understanding, and socio-economic status. New oral anticoagulants may be useful in this way but education and detection of risk factors of nonadherence to treatment are still essential.