Concise Commentary: Whether and When to Resume Anticoagulation After Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Excerpt

The timing of resuming oral anticoagulants after gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) is still controversial in clinical practice due to the lack of evidence-based guideline recommendations. In this issue of the Digestive Diseases and Sciences, Tapaskar et al. [1], in a meta-analysis, examined the risks of recurrent GIB, thromboembolism, and mortality after resuming oral anticoagulants following GIB. Their study found that anticoagulant resumption following GIB was significantly associated with reduction in both thromboembolism and all-cause mortality event rates compared with those who did not resume anticoagulants. Nevertheless, resumption of anticoagulants was also associated with a significant increase in recurrent GIB. …