Should Patients Who Develop Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation Start Anticoagulation?

The Hospitalist. 2016 May;2016(05):

May 8, 2016 | The Hospitalist

Carrie Evavold, MD ; Juan Lessing, MD ; Wendy Tzou, MD ; Frank Merritt, MD

Dr. Evavold is a resident in the hospitalist training program, while Dr. Lessing and Dr. Merritt are hospitalists in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado. Dr. Tzou is a cardiologist in the section of electrophysiology at the University of Colorado.

References:

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Key Points

POAF is associated with an increased risk of stroke in the perioperative period.
Some, but not all, patients with POAF will go on to have recurrent or chronic AF.

Additional Reading

Bessissow A, Khan J, Devereaux PJ, Alvarez-Garcia J, Alonso-Coello P. Postoperative atrial fibrillation in non-cardiac and cardiac surgery: an overview. J Thromb Haemost. 2015;13 Suppl 1:S304–S312.
Jongnarangsin K, Oral H. Postoperative atrial fibrillation. Med Clin North Am. 2008;92(1):87-99.
Anderson E, Dyke C, Levy J. Anticoagulation strategies for the management of postoperative atrial fibrillation. Clin Lab Med. 2014;34(3):537-561.
January CT, Wann L, Alpert JS, et al. 2014 AHA/ACC/HRS guideline for the management of patients with atrial fibrillation: executive summary: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines and the Heart Rhythm Society. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014;64(21):2246-2280. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2014.03.021.