Loading...
When managing risks of therapeutic endoscopy in anticoagulated patients, one must balance the elevated risk for gastrointestinal bleeding with the risk for a thrombotic event. Using nationwide inpatient data from over 1000 hospitals, investigators in Japan retrospectively compared these risks in approximately 17,000 patients taking warfarin or direct acting anticoagulants (DOACs) who underwent a therapeutic endoscopic procedure.
Among 5000 propensity-matched pairs of warfarin and DOAC users, DOAC use was associated with lower postprocedure bleeding risk compared with warfarin use (10% vs. 12%). There was no difference in thrombotic events or hospital mortality between groups. Bridging with heparin increased the risk for both bleeding and thr…