Using data from more than 1000 randomly selected centres across 35 countries, representing all possible care settings, the registry will help to characterize real-life anticoagulant treatment patterns and outcomes, including rates of stroke and bleeding complications, as well as provide data on other important issues, such as physicians' compliance with guidelines and patients' adherence to therapy. This is particularly timely as standard practice moves away from vitamin K antagonist (VKA)-dominated therapy and towards a new era of novel oral anticoagulants (OACs), i.e. direct Factor Xa inhibitors and direct thrombin inhibitors.