Risk of Thromboembolism With Short-term Interruption of Warfarin Therapy

Significant uncertainty surrounds the treatment of patients who must discontinue warfarin sodium therapy before an invasive procedure. In part, the uncertainty results from the lack of published information about the risk of thromboembolism associated with short-term warfarin therapy interruption. We aimed to assess the frequency of thromboembolism and bleeding within a large cohort of patients whose warfarin therapy was temporarily withheld for an outpatient invasive procedure.