• Juan V Llau and Raquel Ferrandis.
• Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine, Hospital Clínic Universitari, Valencia, Spain. juanvllau@gmail.com
• Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. 2009 Oct 1;22(5):661-6.

Purpose Of ReviewThe use of pharmacological thromboprophylaxis in the perioperative period may conflict with regional anesthetic techniques in which maintaining hemostatic integrity is essential. Recently, new anticoagulants have been developed with more efficacy and a better safety profile. This article reviews the basis for the actual recommendations and the current status and management of these new drugs.Recent FindingsRecent studies have outlined that the risk of epidural hematoma after neuraxial anesthesia may be higher than estimated. Therefore, it is imperative to follow the published recommendations. The use of new anticoagulant drugs may take into account the pharmacological profile of each one to safely perform regional anesthesia, mainly the time to reach peak plasma level and half-life.SummaryWhen new anticoagulant drugs are used for thromboprophylaxis in orthopedic surgery, the performance of neuraxial anesthetic techniques should be based on their pharmacology. If a peripheral blockade is chosen, these recommendations should be followed when a block is performed in a noncompressible area.

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