Platelet Inhibition and Anticoagulation in Visceral Interventions.

BACKGROUND: Platelet inhibition and anticoagulation are widely used therapeutic approaches in many patients. Despite their undoubted cardiovascular benefits, they may cause gastrointestinal harm either spontaneously or as part of endoscopic procedures. Strategies which harmonize both aspects are, therefore, of clinical interest.
METHOD: The websites of the German (DGVS), European (ESGE), and American (ASGE) Societies of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy were searched for guidelines on antithrombotic agents and endoscopic procedures. Over and beyond this, PubMed was analyzed for originals and reviews by using the keywords "hemostasis affecting drugs," "antithrombotic drugs," "platelet inhibition," "anticoagulation," AND endoscopy.
CONCLUSION: If elective endoscopy is planned, we should consider postponing the procedure in cases of temporally restricted platelet inhibition therapy or anticoagulation. Urgent endoscopy must balance the procedural risk against the risk of continuing or stopping the medication, with respect to thromboembolic events on the one hand and gastrointestinal bleeding on the other. There are decision criteria which facilitate individual risk stratification as a basis for diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms. KEY MESSAGE: If endoscopic interventions under platelet inhibition and/or anticoagulation cannot be postponed for a limited period of time, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies have to be performed against the background of well-defined decision criteria. These include the procedural risk (low vs. high) and the risk of thromboembolic events occurring (low vs. high) if the medication is stopped. In cases where both risks are considered to be high, an interdisciplinary approach should be favored.