@carlwgordon Normally yes. There is such a thing as a 'CHA2DS2-VASc' calculator which you can easily find online by those letters and numbers in quotes. Enter your data honestly and see what your score is. If it's 2.0 and higher your advisor will want you on an anti-coagulant for life, or until a repair of a nature happens that it no longer makes sense to take it. They're called 'DOACs' incidentally....direct-acting oral anti-coagulants. Like Eliquis (apixaban), or rivaroxaban (Xarelto).

If we're talking about atrial fibrillation, the risk of a stroke rises 5 times after about two hours of fibrillation. That hour figure varies a bit on the source....some go as high as 12 hours. !! After an ablation, with inflamed endothelium in the left atrium, there is even more of a risk of a stroke....so you must continue a DOAC for at least the blanking period of 10-12 weeks. Even then, until it is confirmed you have no more obvious AF, but no Watchman implanted, your advisor would still insist on continuing a DOAC. If you have a Watchman installed, and a confirmatory TEE shows no leakage out of the Watchman, then if all other health indicators are good for your body, most EPs will agree to stop the DOAC. Not all, and it does depend on what else is....ummm.....falling apart on or in you. 😀

@carlwgordon Absolutely; that is the one thing that does not change after an ablation unless you decide to go for the Watchman procedure which supposedly eliminates the risk of clots that can cause a stroke. I have decided that I can tolerate the Eliquis since I have no significant side effects and my insurance pays for it (if you don't have good insurance, it can be very expensive). If I can remain A-fib free, I will settle for taking blood thinners. My cardiologist does not feel that it is optional, but not all of them agree on that.