How long will I be on an anti-coagulant (“blood thinner”)?
How long will I be on an anti-coagulant (“blood thinner”)?
For knee surgery the duration is 10-14 days. For hip surgery the duration is 21-35 days. I typically use Xarelto which is an oral pill. It is easy to monitor and administer and has a very high safety margin. The medication is expensive, but it is necessary. An alternative is an injectable anti-coagulant but it too is expensive.
Coumadin (Warfarin) is a much cheaper option but is difficult to manage and requires regular blood draws to monitor its effectiveness. I typically reserve its use for persons who are on it for another reason. Recently the AAOS has demonstrated that Aspirin therapy may be safe in select individuals, but I feel our elevation precludes its routine use. I do recommend patients consider Aspirin 325mg daily after completing the Xarelto or other chosen agent for 60 days unless you have a contraindication to its use. Your specific anti-coagulant and duration of use will be based on your risk of developing clots against your risk of having a bleeding event.