[Stdole]

I have had two Ablations for Afib... I have been on Blood Thinners
for both procedures . I stopped 5 days prior to the operation.. and gave myself short time needles in my stomach (very easy and short needles)
prior to the procedure and stopped the day of the procedure... then the
hospital starts Heparin the day of the procedure or very soon there after.

I do know as of about 1 year ago there is a difference now in that only stop the day before with no additional blood thinners until the procedure is over.

I would say the surgeon should be the one to make the call on this and his or her method... and depends on the operation one is going to have done..

Warfarin carries a longer life than other blood thinners such as Heparin which is timed in hours as opposed to days.

Myself if one is not having Afib attacks on a regular daily basis that last more than 5 min I would error or go with no blood thinners prior to the operation than take a chance on bleeding to death or bleeding heavy..

It would help to know the type of operation if in intact involves the heart or are we talking about bones etc. Again if we are talking about two heart doctors here the either one could make the call and are qualified if he is a general surgeon I would go with the Cardiologist recommendation as he is the one that will be called if there is a problem..

But really this question has become easier in the past year for two to manage and not a really big problem. The INR will be active manage before and during and after the operation!