Vaskulárna medicína 1/2010

The perioperative management of patients on long-term anticoagulant therapy

The perioperative management of patients who require temporary interruption of oral anticoagulant therapy because of surgery or other invasive procedures is a topic of strong importance. The two main issues that need to be considered in the perioperative anticoagulant management are as followed: a) the patient’s risk of thromboembolic event when anticoagulant therapy is interrupted and b) the risk of bleeding that is associated with the surgery or procedure. This review explores management protocols of the perioperative anticoagulation, so called bridging therapy, that were prepared according to assessment of the patient´s thromboembolic risk.

Keywords: perioperative management, anticoagulants, heparin, risk factors, thrombosis, bleeding