Should you stop anti-clotting drugs before a procedure?
Millions of people with heart disease take anti-clotting drugs to lower the risk of a blood clot in the leg, lung, or brain. But these lifesaving drugs require careful management if a person using them needs an invasive procedure. Any surgery or other procedure in which a doctor uses an instrument to enter the body poses a risk of bleeding. This risk is greater among people taking anti-clotting drugs. But stopping the drug is also risky, as this increases the risk of a clot. People taking anti-clotting drugs should be sure to have their prescribing doctor speak to the doctor performing the procedure. They may need to temporarily stop taking the clot-preventing drug.
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