The safety of in-office laryngologic procedures during active antithrombotic therapy

To determine whether patients undergoing in-office laryngologic procedures on antithrombotic therapy are at increased risk for treatment-related complications.

Patients were those who underwent at least one in-office laryngologic procedure with any of three fellowship-trained laryngologists. Procedures were identified by current procedural terminology (CPT) code and included biopsies, excisions, laser ablations, and injections (therapeutic and augmentative). Patients were divided into two groups based on the use of antithrombotic therapy at the time of their procedure. Retrospective chart review was performed to identify any complications, with an average follow-up of 186 days.

Five hundred-sixty-four unique individuals were identified with ages ranging from 18 to 93 years old and with a relatively even distribution between females (45%) and males (55%). They underwent 647 procedures in total, 310 of which were performed while on some form of antithrombotic therapy. Sixteen procedures were associated with complications either during or after the procedure. In comparing overall complication rates, there was no significant difference between non-antithrombotic (2.4%) and antithrombotic (3.3%) cohorts (OR 1.09, 95% CI [0.46-2.60], P = .8454).

In spite of known risks in other settings, antithrombotic agents do not appear to confer increased risk of treatment-related complications during in-office laryngologic procedures, obviating the need for cessation of therapy prior to these interventions.

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