# Stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation

Care pathway · id `cardio:pathway-af-stroke-prevention` · Cardiovascular Atlas · release `73130c34862e2d06` (public)

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Browse, organ or system: Heart; Brain  
Browse, condition area: Stroke; Heart rhythm problems  

## In plain language

The steps that an ACC summary of the 2023 guideline gives for lowering stroke risk in atrial fibrillation: estimate the risk with a validated score, base stroke-reducing treatment on that risk, favor a direct oral anticoagulant, do not swap in aspirin, and consider a catheter device that closes the left atrial appendage in some patients who cannot take blood thinners or have a high bleeding risk on them.

## Technical summary

Care pathway built only from the ACC key-perspectives summary of the guideline (hash only, cite only), not the guideline text. Each step cites one claim, which carries its own limits. The summary prints classes of recommendation only for the appendage occlusion step. It also covers bleeding risk scores, device-detected episodes and combined treatment with coronary artery disease, which are not recorded here. PubMed lists three corrections to the guideline; their text was not read.

## Connected pages

- The condition this pathway addresses: Atrial fibrillation (AF) (`cardio:atrial-fibrillation`)

## Provenance

Content hash: 1798c0318dc45240f491acdc6deb6b2fa6249476434f01871f02e537319a8191
Last substantive edit: 2026-10-15
Evidence last checked: 2026-10-15