A new type of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) was approved for the prevention of thrombotic stroke in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation and for treatment of venous thrombosis (VTE)/pulmonary infarction (PE) in 2010. Compared with the traditional oral anticoagulant vitamin K antagonist (VKA), DOACs have similar anticoagulant effect, better safety, easier administration and less intracranial hemorrhage, but it may increase the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. As the half-life of DOACs is short, most gastrointestinal bleeding caused by DOACs does not require special treatment, but in rare situations, such as life-threatening bleeding or emergency surgery, DOACs reversal agent was needed to resist the anticoagulation of DOAC. In this review, we summarized the current status of DOACs, incidence of DOACs associated gastrointestinal bleeding, related prophylaxis and DOACs-specific reversal agents.