Is anticoagulation and central neural blockade a safe combination?

Abstract

The indiscriminate insertion of epidural or subarachnoidal needles or catheters in patients who are anticoagulated or are about to be anticoagulated carries the inherent risk of the potential development of a compressing vertebral canal haematoma, which may severely jeopardize the patient's (quality of) life. Although the isolated use of aspirin or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in general is no longer considered a problem, its combination with any form of heparin therapy is. Intraoperative heparinization during cardiac or vascular surgery can be safely performed provided a minimum time interval between the regional anaesthetic block and the subsequent heparinization is respected and indwelling catheters are removed after the disappearance of any remaining heparin effect. Similarly, central neural blockade in combination with the thromboprophylactic use of standard unfractionated heparin or low-molecular-weight heparins is possible if: (1) only thromboprophylactic heparin doses are used; and (2) a specific minimum time interval between the previous or the next dose of the anticoagulant and the initiation of the block or the removal of the indwelling catheter is observed.