[Anticoagulants after intracerebral haemorrhage in frail elderly]

Restarting anticoagulants in frail older patients who have had an intracerebral haemorrhage as an adverse reaction to anticoagulant therapy is a major dilemma, and one which is not specifically addressed in the state-of-the-art paper on restarting anticoagulants elsewhere in this issue. Frail older persons have the highest risk of recurrent bleeding, but, in theory, also have the most benefit from anticoagulants due to the high absolute risk for ischemic events in atrial fibrillation, which is the major indication. However, frail older persons are largely excluded from trials with anticoagulants, which makes it impossible to solve this dilemma in an evidence-based way. Therefore, we argue that sound decision making cannot only be based on neurological or cardiological expertise, as proposed by others, but should include an overall comprehensive geriatric assessment, and, most importantly, patients and caregivers should be included in shared goal setting and shared decision making.