Stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation in heart failure.

Heart failure and atrial fibrillation are major problems of modern cardiology with important clinical, prognostic, and socioeconomic implications. The risks are high morbidity, impaired quality of life, poor outcome, and increased risk of stroke. Oral anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists or novel licensed medicines should be considered unless contraindicated. Possible benefits of sinus rhythm maintenance are not entirely clear and need to be explored further. Relatively scarce data are available on stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction; this requires further research.