Optimal timing of resumption of therapeutic anticoagulation (AC) in patients with hemorrhagic stroke or intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) is unclear because of lack of randomized controlled trials, but existing evidence suggests that 4-8 weeks may be reasonable in our patient (1).
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association 2015 guidelines recommend avoiding AC for at least 4 weeks in patients without mechanical heart valves (class IIB-very weak), while 1 study reported that prediction models of ICH in atrial fibrillation at high risk of thromboembolic event suggest that resumption of AC at 7-8 weeks may be the “sweet spot” when weighing safety against efficacy of AC in this patient population (1-3).
Two meta-analyses (1 involving patients with non-lobar ICH, another ICH in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation) found that resumption of AC ranging from 10 to 44 days following ICH may be associated with decrease rates of thromboembolic events without significant change in the rate of repeat ICH (4,5).
There are many limitations to the published literature including their retrospective nature, unreported location and size of ICH in many studies, and use of warfarin (not DOACs) as an AC agent (1).
Clearly we need randomized controlled trials to answer this important question. In the meantime, a heavy dose of clinical judgement on a case-by-case basis seems appropriate.
Bonus Pearl: Did you know that lobar ICH has high incidence of cerebral amyloid angiopathy and has been associated with higher bleeding rates than has deep ICH (i.e., involving the thalami, basal ganglia, cerebellum, or brainstem) usually due to hypertensive vessel disease (1)?
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References
1. Gibson D et al. When is it safe to resume anticoagulation in my patient with hemorrhagic stroke. The Hospitalist, February 5, 2019. https://www.the-hospitalist.org/hospitalist/article/193924/neurology/when-it-safe-resume-anticoagulation-my-patient-hemorrhagic/page/0/1
2. Hemphill JC et al. Guidelines for the management of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. Stroke. 2015 Jul;46:2032-60. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/STR.0000000000000069
3. Pennlert J et al. Optimal timing of anticoagulant treatment after intracerebral hemorrhage in patients with atrial fibrillation. Stroke. 2017 Feb;48:314-20 https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/STROKEAHA.116.014643
4. Murthy SB et al. Restarting anticoagulation therapy after intracranial hemorrhage: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Stroke. 2017 Jun;48:1594-600. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/strokeaha.116.016327
5. Biffi A et al. Oral anticoagulation and functional outcome after intracerebral hemorrhage. Ann Neurol. 2017 Nov;82:755-65 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5730065/
