Perioperative Management of Antithrombotic Medications: An Investigation into Current U. S. Ophthalmologic Recommendations

PURPOSE: To investigate the availability and content of educational statements or recommendations disseminated by U. S. ophthalmologic organizations regarding perioperative management of antithrombotic agents for ophthalmic and orbital surgery, given the highly variable management of these agents by U. S. ophthalmologists and limited consensus recommendations in the literature. METHODS: National U. S. ophthalmic surgical organization websites were systematically examined for educational statements, which were reviewed for discussion of perioperative management of antithrombotic agents including antiplatelet and anticoagulant medications. A “statement” was defined as either: (a) a guideline directed toward ophthalmologists or (b) a surgical/clinical educational posting directed toward ophthalmologists or patients. RESULTS: Fourteen surgical organizations were identified, with eight of these publishing clinical/surgical educational statements. A total of 3408 organizational statements were identified, with 252 (7.4%) and 3156 (92.6%) statements directed toward physicians and patients, respectively. In total, 0.3% (9/3408) of statements discussed perioperative management of antithrombotics. These accounted for 0.8% (2/252) of ophthalmologist-directed statements and 0.2% (7/3156) of patient-directed statements. The majority of patient-directed statements (57.1%, 4/7) recommended that patients discuss antithrombotic cessation with their ophthalmologists, though ophthalmologist-directed information regarding these medications was scant or absent. CONCLUSIONS: Educational material from U. S. ophthalmologic organizations regarding perioperative management of antithrombotics is notably lacking despite the fact that ophthalmic and orbital surgeries carry unique vision-threatening hemorrhagic risks. Given these risks, as well as the medicolegal consequences of hemorrhagic complications in ophthalmic surgery, increased dissemination of educational material, and consensus statements by ophthalmic surgical organizations on the perioperative management of antithrombotics may be justified.