Managing direct oral anticoagulants in patients undergoing dentoalveolar surgery.

Our objective was to describe our experience of managing a cohort of adult patients prescribed direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) undergoing dentoalveolar procedures between November 2012 and May 2016. Prior to conducting a procedure a formal assessment was made of each patient's anticoagulation treatment. A specific plan was then formulated, balancing the risk of bleeding with the risk of thrombosis. Patients received a telephone consultation one week following treatment to assess any post-operative bleeding. Eighty-two patients underwent 111 oral surgical procedures, the majority of which were dental extractions. In the case of 35 (32%) procedures, advice was given to omit the DOAC, either before or after treatment. There was no bleeding following the majority of procedures. Persistent bleeding followed 15 (13.5%) procedures, of which 7 (6.3%) procedures required specific intervention. The majority of patients prescribed DOACs can undergo dentoalveolar procedures safely. Important considerations when planning treatment are: (i) when the patient usually takes their dose of DOAC, (ii) the time the procedure is performed and, (iii) when the DOAC is taken post-procedure. In our experience, if these factors are considered carefully, omission of DOAC doses is unlikely to be required for most patients.

Visceral Adiposity Is an Independent Determinant of Hypercoagulability as Measured by Thrombin Generation in Morbid Obesity.

Introduction Increased visceral adipose tissue (VAT) has been shown to be associated with the development of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and ischemic heart disease. It remains unknown whether fat distribution impacts on coagulation markers and/or the risk of venous thrombosis. This study evaluates markers of hypercoagulability in class III obesity (body mass index [BMI] >40 kg/m 2 ) compared with nonobese controls. We further investigated whether hypercoagulability was influenced by VAT, metabolic syndrome, and metabolic markers, including adiponectin. Patients and Methods Ninety patients were recruited from the obesity clinic at King's College Hospital from November 2009 to December 2011. The inclusion criteria were class III obesity (BMI ≥40 kg/m 2 ) and age 18 to 65 years. A control group (healthy ambulatory participants, with a BMI < 30 kg/m 2 ) was recruited from volunteers responding to advertisement. Abdominal VAT and subcutaneous adipose tissue surface areas were determined by evaluation of a single-slice CT at spinal vertebra L4. Results Thrombin generation revealed a significantly increased peak and endogenous thrombin potential in patients compared with controls. Lag time and time to peak (ttP) were also significantly prolonged in patients. VAT was found to have the strongest association with thrombin generation parameters: lag time (ß = 0.378; p < 0.001), peak thrombin (0.378; p = 0.04), and ttP (ß = 0.373; p = 0.001). BMI was found to be a predictor for lag time only (ß = 0.313; p = 0.003). SAT was not associated with any of the thrombin generation parameters (data not shown). VAT was found to be an independent determinant of peak thrombin, lag time, and ttP. The study suggests not only fat mass but also fat distribution, particularly visceral adiposity, mediates hypercoagulability in obesity.