Acute Abdominal Conditions Induced by Anticoagulant Therapy—Case Reports

Abstract

Hemorrhage after oral anticoagu lant administration is a well-recog nized hazard of therapy, and hemorrhagic complications may oc cur in 10-40% of patients. Usually these complications are minor, but se rious bleeding has been reported in from 2-10% of patients on prolonged anticoagulant therapy.

Some hemorrhagic complications may be manifested as an acute ab dominal process that may result in unnecessary surgery. The process is most commonly seen in the form of intestinal obstruction produced by hemorrhage into the bowel wall, ad jacent mesentery, or retroperitoneal structures.

The authors present 7 cases of se rious abdominal anticoagulant com plications and review the Western literature on this perplexing prob lem.