The North American Spine Society released two documents on antithrombotic therapies for adult spine surgery patients.
The publications, “Evidence-Based Clinical Guidelines for Multidisciplinary Spine Care: Antithrombotic Therapies for Adults Undergoing Spine Surgery, 2nd Edition” and “Appropriate Use Criteria for Antithrombotic Therapies in Adults Undergoing Spine Surgery” include representatives in orthopedics, neurosurgery, general surgery and physical medicine.
The clinical guidelines document, led by Daniel Resnick, MD, provides evidence-based recommendations, according to a Feb. 10 news release shared with Becker’s. It includes 26 clinical questions and 21 recommendation statements.
Appropriate use criteria documents, led by Charles Reitman, MD, were developed to help surgeons determine appropriate (or reasonable) recommendations regardless of the available level of evidence.
“Despite the historical concern for bleeding risk following spine surgery, in the majority of our patients with relatively low risk profiles, the literature suggests that catastrophic complications related to bleeding are rare,” Dr. Reitman said in the release. “This was reflected in the ratings, where we observed that anticoagulation was considered appropriate or at least uncertain for all scenarios. It is important to note that the scenarios did not include a profile of a patient at high risk for post operative bleeding. Thus, while I would not suggest that anticoagulation is an appropriate consideration in all circumstances, for the majority of spine surgery, it appears that it should be considered.”
Copies of the clinical guidelines and AUC documents are available for free.
