Oral anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists (OAC) is the standard care for reducing stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. Just recently the direct, competitive thrombin inhibitor dabigatran has been approved by the FDA for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation. In a large multicenter trial it was shown that dabigatran was at least as effective as Vitamin K antagonists in the prevention of stroke without an increase of major hemorrhage.