Risk of Spinal Haemorrhage from Cilostazol.

Resolved question:
I am having cortisone injection to lumbar in two weeks. Pain said not to take blood thinner drugs. But cardiologist said to take Cilostazol for Intermittent clarification. Can I take that pill.

Submitted: 4 Days
Category: Cardiologist

Expert:  Dr. Vivek Mahajan replied 4 Days.

Hello,

Thank you for your query at Doctorspring.com.

Cilostazol is an anti platelet agent. It is necessary to avoid anti platelet agents when you are having a planned procedure like cortisone injection in your disc as bleeding at such a site could be catastrophic. In that case you should probably stop Cilostazol given the risk of spinal haemorrhage.

The guidelines recommend stopping Cilostazol at least 42 hours before the spinal procedure. Manufacturer recommends at least 5 days stoppage before procedure. The drug can be restarted 5 hours after the procedure.

As far as intermittent claudication is concerned it is not a critical limb ischemia and hopefully shall not worsen by stoppage of Cilostazol for a few days. However there is a small negligible risk of developing acute limb ischemia on stoppage of Cilostazol.
But still its better to stop Cilostazol and take the small risk rather than risking spinal hemorrhage.

Hope this helps, please feel free to discuss further.

Regards
Dr Vivek Mahajan

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