**Preface XI**


Preface

Two types of anticoagulant drugs, heparin and vitamin K antagonists, were widely used during the last century and were among the most frequently prescribed drugs in everyday clinical practice. In the past decades, several new direct oral anticoagulants were developed that changed the anticoagulant therapy landscape considerably. On the one hand, this book provides an extensive overview of all the known anticoagulants, including exotic anticoagu‐ lants found in different animal species that can be used for studying different aspects of the haemostatic system or as a starting point for new drug development. On the other hand, it is also a valuable tool for clinicians providing a description of the mode of action and manage‐ ment of therapy for anticoagulant drugs used in everyday clinical practice in different clini‐ cal settings, including direct oral anticoagulants dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban and edoxaban. Despite the wide range of anticoagulant drugs available today, the ideal anticoa‐ gulant drug that would effectively prevent thrombotic events, but would not expose pa‐

**Mojca Božič Mijovski**

Slovenia

Department of Vascular Diseases

University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Slovenia

tients to increased risk of bleeding, is yet to be discovered.
