TY - JOUR
T1 - Perioperative management of the chronically anticoagulated patient
AU - Heit, J. A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funded, in part, by grants from the National Institutes of Health (HL60279, HL66216) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (TS326), U.S. Public Health Service, the National American Heart Association (99-50166N), and by Mayo Foundation.
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - Common indications for chronic anticoagulation include mechanical prosthetic heart valve, non-rheumatic atrial fibrillation, and venous thromboembolism. Perioperative management of the chronically anticoagulated patient is a complex medical problem, and includes the following issues: urgency of surgery, risk of thromboembolism in the absence of anticoagulation, bleeding risk, consequences of bleeding, ability to control bleeding physically, and duration of bleeding risk after the procedure. Most patients can be managed safely by stopping oral anticoagulants 4-5 days before surgery and restarting anticoagulation after the procedure at the patient's usual daily dose. In general, dental procedures and cataract extraction can be performed without interrupting anticoagulation. Most other procedures can be safely performed with an INR ≤ 1.4. For patients with double-wing prosthetic valves (e.g., St. Jude, Carbomedics) in the aortic position, uncomplicated atrial fibrillation, or a remote (>3 months) history of venous thromboembolism, oral anticoagulants can be stopped 4-5 days before surgery and restarted at the usual daily dose immediately after surgery. For other patients at higher risk of thrombosis, "bridging therapy" with outpatient low molecular weight heparin is safe and effective. For urgent procedures, a small dose of oral vitamin K usually will reduce the INR within 24-36 hours to a level sufficient for surgery and avoids exposure to transfused blood products.
AB - Common indications for chronic anticoagulation include mechanical prosthetic heart valve, non-rheumatic atrial fibrillation, and venous thromboembolism. Perioperative management of the chronically anticoagulated patient is a complex medical problem, and includes the following issues: urgency of surgery, risk of thromboembolism in the absence of anticoagulation, bleeding risk, consequences of bleeding, ability to control bleeding physically, and duration of bleeding risk after the procedure. Most patients can be managed safely by stopping oral anticoagulants 4-5 days before surgery and restarting anticoagulation after the procedure at the patient's usual daily dose. In general, dental procedures and cataract extraction can be performed without interrupting anticoagulation. Most other procedures can be safely performed with an INR ≤ 1.4. For patients with double-wing prosthetic valves (e.g., St. Jude, Carbomedics) in the aortic position, uncomplicated atrial fibrillation, or a remote (>3 months) history of venous thromboembolism, oral anticoagulants can be stopped 4-5 days before surgery and restarted at the usual daily dose immediately after surgery. For other patients at higher risk of thrombosis, "bridging therapy" with outpatient low molecular weight heparin is safe and effective. For urgent procedures, a small dose of oral vitamin K usually will reduce the INR within 24-36 hours to a level sufficient for surgery and avoids exposure to transfused blood products.
KW - Anticoagulation
KW - Heart valves
KW - Low molecular weight heparin
KW - Surgery
KW - Vitamin K
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U2 - 10.1023/A:1012746729537
DO - 10.1023/A:1012746729537
M3 - Article
C2 - 11711693
AN - SCOPUS:0035184901
VL - 12
SP - 81
EP - 87
JO - Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis
JF - Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis
SN - 0929-5305
IS - 1
ER -