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Atrial fibrillation affects over 30 million people worldwide and requires long-term anticoagulation, with warfarin still widely used due to its efficacy and reversibility, but its narrow therapeutic window (INR 2.0–3.0) makes dosing particularly challenging, especially in high bleeding-risk patients where both under- and over-anticoagulation can lead to serious complications. Conventional dosing approaches rely on population-based nomograms and clinician judgment, failing to capture individual variability driven by genetics, diet, comorbidities, and drug interactions. To address this limitation, this article proposes a conceptual framework that integrates deep reinforcement learning with a safety-shield mechanism for personalized warfarin dosing. The system uses a deep Q-network trained on historical patient trajectories within an offline Markov Decision Process to recommend dose adjustments based on INR history and clinical risk factors, while a deterministic rule-based safety layer blocks unsafe actions, such as dose increases when INR exceeds 3.5 or extreme adjustments requiring clinician review. Conservative offline reinforcement learning further reduces the risk of unsafe policy extrapolation by limiting overestimation of out-of-distribution actions. Together, this hybrid architecture aims to improve time in therapeutic range while minimizing bleeding risk, providing a structured and clinically constrained approach for safer, individualized anticoagulation management in high-risk atrial fibrillation patients.

Anticoagulation management requires balancing multiple factors such as bleeding risk, thromboembolic risk, drug interactions, and renal function. Deep learning can assist in risk prediction, but its effectiveness relies on clinicians' ability to understand and verify the recommendations. Black-box models may recommend actions without providing clear explanations. In contrast, clinical guidelines are rule-based but not directly executable by neural models. This article introduces a neuro-symbolic XAI framework that combines deep learning predictions with explicit clinical guidelines. It includes a neural prediction module, a symbolic reasoning engine, and an integration layer for traceable justifications. The neuro-symbolic approach connects data-driven predictions to clinical rules, improving auditability and trustworthiness in decision support. This framework aims to enhance anticoagulation management by providing verifiable, clinician-understandable decision support, focusing on explainability-by-design.