[Side Effects of Anticoagulant and Antithrombotic Therapy and their Management]

The risk of thromboembolic event increases in patients who discontinue antithrombotic therapy, and there is no need to discontinue nonsteroidal anti- inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including low dose aspirin prior to interventional procedures. In contrast low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) or unfraction- ated heparin can be discontinued 12 hours prior to interventional procedures. Warfarin should be discon- tihued and international normalized ratio (INR) should be normalized to 1.4 or less for high risk procedures and 2 or less for low risk procedures. Necessity of dis- continuation of platelet aggregation inhibitors depends on the patient's condition, the planned procedure, risk factors, and the cardiologist's opinion.