Abstract
To assess the influence of antithrombotic medications during dermatological surgery, the prothrombin time-international normalized ratio (PT-INR) and incidence of bleeding complications in patients taking antithrombotic agents were compared to those of patients taking no antithrombotic medication. In all, 543 patients underwent dermatological surgery at the Division of Dermatology of the National Hospital Organization at Nagasaki Medical Center between 2012 and 2014. No patients under 50 years of age were taking antithrombotic medication, compared with 17.6% of patients over 50 years of age. Hypertensive heart diseases and aspirin monotherapy were the most common clinical features of the patients on antithrombotic medications. The PT-INR of patients over 70 years of age was significantly higher than that of patients 50 to 69 years of age who were on antithrombotic medications (P<0.05). The incidence of bleeding complications was 1.6% in patients over 50 years of age taking no antithrombotic medication, compared with 1.8% in patients continuing antithrombotic monotherapy, and 30.0% in those on two antithrombotic agents during dermatological surgery.[Skin Cancer (Japan) 2015 ; 30 : 179-184]
