Risk Predication Tool, Developed by Anesthesiologists at Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College Medicine , May Reduce Adverse Outcomes BRONX, N.Y. , Aug.

23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A new computational risk assessment prediction tool developed by anesthesiologists at Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine helps to predict who would benefit from anti-blood clot medications after non-cardiac surgery. The advance, published in Nature Medicine, could reduce the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) and stroke. Approximately 50 million patients in the United States undergo non-cardiac surgical procedures annually, and it is estimated that up to one quarter of these individuals may experience new-onset post-operative atrial fibrillation (POAF), an irregular heart rhythm that can cause blood clots in the heart, increasing the risk of stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.

Montefiore researchers assessed the association of POAF and stroke in more than 250,000 patients who underwent non-cardiac surgery at Montefiore Health System in New York and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston . While none of the patients had previously been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, the researchers found that almost 5,000 patients had AF detected after surgery, and for those who received anticoagulation medications, their risk of stroke within one year after surgery reduced by half. Existing guidelines do not provide strong recommendations on th.