title: Lingual hematoma threatening airway obstruction in a patient on oral anticoagulation with warfarin.
abstract: Warfarin sodium is a commonly used oral anticoagulant agent. It has been well documented that, when effective anticoagulant therapy is employed in treating thromboembolic disease, hemorrhage is a possible complication that can be spontaneous without a history of trauma. The numerous sites of bleeding are the genitourinary and gastrointestinal tracts, the central nervous system, the nose (epistaxis), the penis (priapism), the retroperitoneum, wounds (surgical or traumatic), and subcutaneous tissues during warfarin therapy, but the hemorrhage rarely causes bleeding compromising a patient's airway. We report a case of a spontaneous lingual hematoma that developed during oral anticoagulation therapy. This life-threatening complication of warfarin therapy and its successful management without surgery indicates that observation, close monitoring and reversal of anticoagulation can be a reasonable management option.
authors.affiliation: Dişkapi Yildirim Beyazit Education and Research Hospital, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Ankara, Turkey. berkantozpolat@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Berkant
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ozpolat
authors.forename: Mehmet Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.forename: Ertan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yücel
mesh_terms: D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000209:etiology; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006406:Hematoma / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014060:Tongue Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000150:complications; D014859:Warfarin / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D014859:Warfarin