Abstract
Anticoagulant therapy is widely used in clinical practice, as prophylaxis in patients at risk of presenting thromboembolic phenomena or as treatment in those who have presented a thrombotic event. It is increasingly the number of patients on chronic anticoagulant therapy to undergo surgical procedures, so it is important and necessary to know the perioperative management of the different anticoagulant drugs to reduce the risks and complications associated with suspension or maintenance of these in the perioperative period. To achieve this goal, the risk of bleeding should be evaluated and balanced against the risk of thromboembolic events, considering the medical condition of each patient and the type of surgical procedure to which they have undergone. The recommendation for vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant drugs is to maintain them for surgeries at low risk of bleeding and to suspend them 5 days before surgical procedures with moderate and high bleeding risk, controlling ‘International Normalized Ratio’ the day before surgery. The new oral anticoagulants do not require routine monitoring, recommending suspending them 24-96 h prior to the surgical procedure, depending on the hemorrhagic risk of each surgery and renal function of patient. In relation to parenteral anticoagulants, unfractionated heparin in intravenous infusion is recommended to be discontinued 4-5 h prior to surgery, while the subcutaneous route, 12 h prior to surgery. Low-molecular-weight heparins in treatment doses should be suspended 24 h prior to surgery, while in prophylactic doses, only 12 h earlier.
