Continued versus interrupted aspirin use and bleeding risk after endoscopic submucosal dissection of gastric...

Balancing the risk of bleeding and thromboembolic events for patients who use aspirin and need to undergo endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for gastric neoplasms is a delicate process. The current guidelines from different associations provide inconsistent recommendations.

MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched through August 2017 for studies that compared the risk of post-ESD bleeding in patients who continued aspirin vs. those who discontinued aspirin preoperatively. Pooled odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using a random-effect model, generic inverse variance method. The between-study heterogeneity was quantified using the Q statistic and I .

A total of five studies that included 700 patients were identified. Our meta-analysis could not demonstrate a significantly increased risk of post-ESD bleeding among the aspirin-continued group compared to the aspirin-interrupted group, the pooled OR being 1.81 (95%CI 0.85-3.83). The statistical heterogeneity was insignificant, with an I of 25%. Nine thrombotic events occurred in the aspirin-interrupted group whereas none occurred in the aspirin-continued group.

This meta-analysis could not demonstrate that continuation of aspirin significantly increases the risk of post-ESD bleeding. However, the analysis was restricted by the small sample size and the observational nature of the primary studies. Randomized controlled trials are still needed to clarify this risk.