The patient on low dose aspirin: a concern for the anesthesiologist?

Low dose aspirin administration has been generally accepted as prophylactic therapy for myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular disease. It is also used generally to prevent embolic phenomenon, as for example in pregnant patients. Thus, anesthesiologists are often confronted with patients receiving aspirin for whom neuraxial anesthesia may be the preferred technique. Much controversy has arisen in the literature as to whether the possible complications of anticoagulation outweigh the benefits of regional techniques. The anesthesiologist must be able to provide patients with a rational and current approach to the selection of an appropriate anesthetic technique.