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Blood Thinner, Open Heart Surgery For Leaky Valve, Blood Count High. Treatment ?
Question: My Dad has been taken warfarm (blood thiner) for years. Now he needs open heart surgery to replace a leaky valve. He has been off his blood thiner for 7 days and his count is still too high to have surgery. They want it down to 1.0 it was 2.2 then they gave hm a vitaium K injection yesterday and 3-201ML of Plasma yesterday. It came down to 1.5 what would be the reason it wont go down? They don't seem to know why. They are giving another 2-201ML today. The "SON" Praying for my Dad.
Hello and thanks for the query.
I will try to provide you with some good information and reassurance regarding for father's condition. As far as the blood center is concerned it can sometimes be quite difficult to predict how the level will come in a blood test. Hey number of things affect the INR. The INR is the international NormalizedRatio. This is a test which we as physicians used to monitor the coagulation level. This basically is a test that tells us how thin the blood is while on Coumadin.
As far as what can affect the INR we have to consider a few things. One very important contribute in factor is diet. As you have seen the doctors have given him some vitamin K. If the diet is a bit low in vitamin K anytime around the time of his surgery it would lead to the Coumadin level being elevated.
From the information you have provided it really looks like your father's surgeons are trying to be very conservative in making sure there is a very minimal risk of bleeding. I completely agree with this philosophy. I am not concerned at all that it is taking some time for the coagulation to get to want optimal range. Sometimes this is just the case with some patience. It is not a sign of any potential complications. We see this quite often in the field of medicine and surgery.
After the surgery is completed the surgeon will then decide when to restart the blood thinning medication for your father. It generally is not a very long time before they will start this. In the meantime he will be monitored very closely in an intensive setting I am sure.
I thank you once again for submitting your question. It has been a pleasure to take part in discussing your father's care. If you have additional follow-up questions I am certainly available to address them.
Sincerely,
Dr. Robert
I will try to provide you with some good information and reassurance regarding for father's condition. As far as the blood center is concerned it can sometimes be quite difficult to predict how the level will come in a blood test. Hey number of things affect the INR. The INR is the international NormalizedRatio. This is a test which we as physicians used to monitor the coagulation level. This basically is a test that tells us how thin the blood is while on Coumadin.
As far as what can affect the INR we have to consider a few things. One very important contribute in factor is diet. As you have seen the doctors have given him some vitamin K. If the diet is a bit low in vitamin K anytime around the time of his surgery it would lead to the Coumadin level being elevated.
From the information you have provided it really looks like your father's surgeons are trying to be very conservative in making sure there is a very minimal risk of bleeding. I completely agree with this philosophy. I am not concerned at all that it is taking some time for the coagulation to get to want optimal range. Sometimes this is just the case with some patience. It is not a sign of any potential complications. We see this quite often in the field of medicine and surgery.
After the surgery is completed the surgeon will then decide when to restart the blood thinning medication for your father. It generally is not a very long time before they will start this. In the meantime he will be monitored very closely in an intensive setting I am sure.
I thank you once again for submitting your question. It has been a pleasure to take part in discussing your father's care. If you have additional follow-up questions I am certainly available to address them.
Sincerely,
Dr. Robert
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Answered by
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