INR for cardioversion?

60 Posts

Specializes in Cardiac.

So random question...in a nutshell we had a guy come in who has baseline unsymptomatic AFlutter...was on coumadin at home went to get his INR checked at his MDs office and was found to be....10!!!! The MD sent him packing to our cardiac stepdown and while there he had an ICD/pacer placed. Anyway...all anticoagulation was stopped...like not even a Heparin shot. Plan was to get the INR down to a suitable level then cardiovert him to attempt to restore SR.

So some of us were unsure why they would need to wait for the INR to come down...cardioversion isnt invasive...and you want them to be anticoagulated and yet he had a pacer/icd placed with an inr of around 4...last I had him with am labs his inr was 2.4 with cardioversion planned for a few days.

We couldnt quite figure out why the wait for INR to come down for cardioversion...yes he had a small healing incision and a new icd/pacer...so...is that why or must the inr be lower for a cardioversion?

Trying to figure this out...im sure when I go back he'll still be there this time on a heparin gtt on a coumadin bridge...

hmmmm