Periprocedural Anticoagulant Management

Approximately 6 million Americans are treated with chronic anticoagulation. Of these, 10% of patients will require temporary anticoagulation interruption for an invasive procedure each year. Anticoagulation management during this period requires a formal strategy in order to limit both bleeding and thromboembolic complications. This article will give health care providers a stepwise approach to this process. The first step is to determine whether warfarin discontinuation is necessary for the planned procedure. For procedures requiring warfarin discontinuation, the second step is to determine the appropriate timing. The third step is to identify the patient-specific thromboembolic risk in order to determine which patients require bridging therapy with parenteral anticoagulants. The fourth step is both the most complicated and most critical step in this management strategy. This decision-making step involves choosing the appropriate anticoagulant regimen, dose, and timing of reinitiation that is best tailored to a specific patient, as well as determining procedural variables, in order to limit bleeding and thrombotic complications.