Patients on non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants who undergo cold snare polypectomy may only need to pause their medication on the day of the procedure, a small study suggests.

The Japanese researchers say the “simplified strategy” of withholding the antithrombotic agents was not associated with delayed bleeding and should be considered for routine clinical practice.

In a single-centre, observational cohort study, clinicians compared how continuing versus stopping non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) only on the day of cold snare polypectomy affected bleeding risk in older adults.

The cohort included 47 patients who continued the antithrombotic agents and 66 patients in whom the medications were withheld and then restarted the day after the procedure.