Simple and Safe Method to Prepare Patients With Prosthetic Heart Valves for Surgical Dental Procedures

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Abstract
Temporary discontinuation of high-intensity oral anticoagulant treatment is not recommended in patients under going dental surgery. This policy is not based on solid data from randomized clinical trials but on expert consensus. The alternative, i.e., to continue treatment and treat patients with tranexamic acid mouthwash, often is not applicable. A prospec tive cohort study was carried out to evaluate bleeding and thromboembolic complications in patients bearing prosthetic heart valves and registering International Normalized Ratio (INR) values between 2.0 and 4.5, who underwent dental pro cedures after a 2-day suspension of warfarin treatment. One hundred four consecutive patients receiving high-intensity an ticoagulation underwent 123 dental procedures after 2 days' warfarin withdrawal. No major bleeding complications oc curred in the week after the procedure; minor bleeding requir ing local measures occurred in two patients. No thromboem bolic events and no cases of bacterial endocarditis were re corded in the 3 months after the procedure. A mean decrease in INR by approximately 1.0 U (from 2.95 ± 0,59 to 1.87 ± 0,46) occurred after 2 days' warfarin suspension. Seven days after reinitiation of warfarin, INR values returned to the therapeutic range in 90% of cases. The calculated average time spent at INR less than 2.0 (critical value) was 28 hours. Two days' warfarin suspension is a simple and safe policy for patients with prosthetic heart valves undergoing dental surgery.