High Bleeding Risk in Patients Undergoing Coronary and Structural Heart Interventions.

Percutaneous coronary and structural heart interventions are increasingly preferred over cardiac surgery due to reduced rates of periprocedural complications and faster recovery but often require postprocedural antithrombotic therapy for the prevention of local thrombotic events. Antithrombotic therapy is inevitably associated with increased bleeding, the extent of which is proportional to the number, duration, and potency of the antithrombotic agents used. Bleeding complications have important clinical implications, which may outweigh the expected benefit of reducing thrombotic events. Herein, we provide a comprehensive description of the classification and clinical relevance of high bleeding risk in patients undergoing coronary and structural heart interventions.