The target-specific oral anticoagulants represent the first new oral 
anti-thrombotic therapy in over 50 years and have the potential to make therapy 
easier and hence more accessible to many patients. Like any new therapy, the 
potential benefits must be weighed against the potential challenges and one of 
the most concerning aspects of the new target-specific oral anticoagulants is 
the lack of a proven method to reverse their effect. Unlike the vitamin K 
antagonist, i.e. warfarin, there is no specific antidote for these medications. 
This paper will review the limited data on the use of non-specific therapies to 
reverse anticoagulation for the new agents. We hope to prepare clinicians who 
are faced with a patient who has serious bleeding or needs emergent surgery 
while taking dabigatran, rivaroxaban or apixaban.