Should bleeding tendency deter abdominal paracentesis?

Background and aims. This study was conducted to evaluate the complications and bleeding associated with either thrombocytopoenia or prolongation of prothrombin time for ultrasound-guided abdominal paracentesis in the emergency department. Study design and patients. In an emergency department of a tertiary centre, patients receiving ultrasound-guided abdominal paracentesis by the emergency physicians were prospectively enrolled. Patient characteristics, the preprocedure international normalised ratio for prothrombin time and the platelet count, and the procedure-related complications were collected and analysed. Results. For a 2-year study period, a total of 410 abdominal paracenteses in 163 patients were investigated. The preprocedure international normalised ratio for prothrombin time was more than 1.5 in 142 paracenteses; the preprocedure platelet count was less than 50 x 10(3) mu L-1 in 55 paracenteses. Only two out of 4 10 procedures (0.5%, 95% confidence interval = 0.1-1.8%) were associated with minor complications of cutaneous bleeding in the same patient (0.6%, 95% confidence interval = 0.1-3.4%) at different visits. There was no significant procedure-related bleeding or complications even in patients with marked thrombocytopoenia or prolongation in international normalised ratio. Conclusions. Bleeding complication of ultrasound-guided abdominal paracentesis is uncommon and appears to be very mild, regardless of preprocedure international normalised ratio or platelet count. Routine correction of prolonged international normalised ratio or thrombocytopoenia before abdominal paracentesis may not be necessary. (C) 2005 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.