The present review concerns the role of new oral anticoagulants inhibiting the principal blood-coagulation factors in the prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolic complications (VTEC). The large-scale controlled studies, RECORD and EINSTEIN, involving patients with acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and/or pulmonary artery thromboembolism (PATE) showed that the long-term treatment of these pathologies using dabigatran (thrombin inhibitor) and rivaroxaban (factor Xa inhibitor) was at least as safe and efficacious as therapy with standard medications. The advantages of these novel preparations over antagonists of vitamin K include the predictable action, application in the fixed doses, low risk of interaction with other medications, and the absence of necessity of monitoring the international normalized ratio (INR).