Performing Procedures on Patients Who Take Dabigatran, Rivaroxaban, and Apixaban

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Emergency Procedures, Featured Procedure, Hematology, Lumbar Puncture, medical procedures
More Tags – anticoagulation, bedside procedures, HPC updates, invasive procedures, Oral anticoagulants
Over the past several years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of the new oral anticoagulants (Dabigatran, Rivaroxaban, and Apixaban).  The popularity of these medications stems not only from aggressive pharmaceutical monitoring to physicians and to the…
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Safety of Lumbar Puncture in Adults and Children with Thrombocytopenia

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Featured, Hematology, Lumbar Puncture, medical procedures
More Tags – HPC updates, lumbar puncture, procedure, thrombocytopenia
Traditionally, it has been promulgated by anesthesiologists that you need a platelet count of 100,000 to safely perform neuraxial regional anesthesia (spinal and epidural anesthesia).  This practice pattern has continued even though Children’s Hospitals routinely perform intrathecal injections for prophylactic chemotherapy with…
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