A study of the safety of continued anticoagulation for cataract surgery patients.

Cataract surgery is the most common procedure performed on Medicare recipients. Many of these patients have been on anticoagulation therapy (ACT) regimens, but no consistent standard currently governs the use or cessation of ACT prior to surgery. This study evaluated the safety of continuing ACT in cataract surgery patients (of ASA III physical status) at seven centers. There was a 53% incidence of previous ACT among the 1,842 individuals sampled. During 2,241 procedures, only two patients (one on ACT) experienced abnormal surgical bleeding, noted as hyphemas. Seventeen (0.9%), nine on ACT and eight not on it, had some type of bleeding related to regional anesthesia; of these, nine had bruising and eight had subconjunctival hemorrhage. No major complications were noted in the ACT group during surgery, or at visits 1 day and 1 week postoperatively.