Need for continued use of anticoagulants after intracerebral hemorrhage

One of the unsolved dilemmas in cerebrovascular disease is the ideal timing to restart anticoagulant therapy (ACT) safely in patients who have suffered an intracranial hemorrhage and have an indication to continue ACT. No randomized studies with evidence-based data are available to settle this issue. Only a few reports have been published; their shortcomings include small numbers of patients evaluated retrospectively, a broad spectrum of indications for ACT, different types of hemorrhage, and variable methods of reversing and restarting ACT. Despite this variability, most reports agree that 1) ACT has to be immediately reversed to decrease the risk of hemorrhage progression; 2) a period between 1 and 2 weeks appears sufficient to allow for management and monitoring of the hemorrhage off ACT; and 3) ACT can be safely restarted after the period off of treatment. A physician confronting a patient with intracranial hemorrhage and the need for ACT faces a situation of individually focused clinical decision making. The problem rests in balancing the risks of a worsening or recurring hemorrhage on one side, and the risk of thromboembolism on the other. From available information and personal experience, an unvalidated risk stratification can be proposed to categorize patients in low- and high-risk groups for hemorrhagic complications and embolic phenomena, assigning them to 5 or 15 days off ACT, respectively. Intermediate-risk patients can have ACT restarted in 5 to 15 days from the onset of the intracranial hemorrhage. Anticoagulation should be immediately reversed. Fresh frozen plasma is the standard treatment in most institutions. Prothrombin complex concentrate is an alternative, but issues of availability make its use impractical. The use of recombinant factor VIIa is an attractive new option.