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AUA 2017

AUA 2017: Prostate fiducial marker placement in patients while on anticoagulation: feasibility prior to prostate SBRT

Boston, MA (UroToday.com) The authors of this study evaluated the safety of continuing anticoagulation for patients undergoing TRUS fiducial marker placement. In a consecutive series of 23 patients, no bleeding complication was encountered. As such, the authors concluded that active anticoagulation is not an absolute contraindication for fiducial marker placement.

This study assessed an important question. Clinicians often encounter the dilemma of whether or not to continue patients on anticoagulation during an office based procedure. The risk/benefit analysis for such situations can be extremely difficult to assess. The trend over the years in urology has been to push the envelope in performing surgical procedures in patients on anticoagulation for various reasons. Procedures performed under such conditions demand higher expertise and leaves little room for error. However, in blinded procedures such as TRUS guided fiducial marker placement, bleeding complications are less operator dependent. Prior to reaching the conclusion that these procedures are safe while on anticoagulants, larger studies must be performed.

Presented By: Jonathan Haas, MD, Mineola, New York

Reviewed by: Roger Li MD Urologic Oncology Fellow, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Ashish M. Kamat MD Professor, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston TX

at the 2017 AUA Annual Meeting - May 12 - 16, 2017 – Boston, Massachusetts, USA