Perioperative anticoagulant management (PAM) practice characteristics and compliance for preoperative steps
| PAM step | Elective surgery (n=184) |
| 1. Assess the patient at least 7 days before surgery | |
| Valid records, n (%) | 182 (98.9) |
| Time from preoperative assessment to surgery (days), median (IQR) | 19 (8–37) |
| Compliance, % (95% CI) | 80.8 (75.0 to 86.5) |
| 2. Preoperative VKA withholding duration: Acenocoumarol: 3 days Phenprocoumon: 5 days | |
| Valid records, n (%) | 119 (64.7) |
| Withholding duration acenocoumarol (days), median (IQR) | 3 (3–3) |
| <3 days, n (%) | 13 (13.4) |
| 3 days, n (%) | 64 (66.0) |
| >3 days, n (%) | 20 (20.6) |
| Withholding duration phenprocoumon (days), median (IQR) | 5 (3–7) |
| <5 days, n (%) | 9 (40.9) |
| 5 days, n (%) | 6 (27.3) |
| >5 days, n (%) | 7 (31.8) |
| Compliance, % (95% CI) | 58.8 (50.0 to 67.7) |
| 3. Test INR preoperative on the day of surgery | |
| Valid records, n (%) | 184 (100) |
| Day of most recent preoperative INR test, n (%) | |
| Surgery day | 112 (60.9) |
| Day before surgery | 50 (27.2) |
| Sooner/none | 22 (12.0) |
| Preoperative INR on surgery day, median (IQR) | 1.10 (1.00–1.28) |
| Preoperative INR on day before surgery, median (IQR) | 1.20 (1.10–1.30) |
| Compliance, % (95% CI) | 60.9 (53.8 to 67.9) |
| 4. Apply or withhold preoperative bridging anticoagulation according to thromboembolic risk | |
| Valid records, n (%) | 157 (85.3) |
| Applied bridging per thromboembolic risk strata, n (%) | |
| Low | 18 (19.1) |
| Moderate | 8 (38.1) |
| High | 9 (50.0) |
| Unknown | 12 (50.0) |
| Compliance, % (95% CI)* | 79.7 (72.9 to 86.5) |
Unless otherwise stated, all results are based on valid records only.
*Based on valid records and records with known thromboembolic risk.
INR, international normalised ratio; VKA, vitamin-K antagonist.