Anticoagulant therapy in recurrent cerebral embolism: a retrospective study in non-valvular atrial fibrillation.

For the prevention of recurrent embolic stroke, 23 elderly patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) were treated with oral anticoagulants (warfarin) during a mean period of 3.8 years. Only one patient suffered recurrent embolism, and another had acute myocardial infarction. There was no cerebral haemorrhage during the treatment. In an untreated control group (from an autopsy series), recurrent embolic strokes occurred in 18 of 70 NVAF patients (26%) during a mean period of 1.3 years. Long-term anticoagulant therapy appears to be effective in the prevention of recurrent embolic stroke in elderly patients with NVAF.