Managing anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy before interventional radiology procedures.

Before any interventional radiology procedure, including biopsy and abscess drainage, patients should have testing to determine the complete blood count (including platelet count), activated partial thromboplastin time and international normalized ratio. The tests should be done as close to the time of the procedure as possible. For stable patients, the timing of blood tests should be within one week of the procedure, in general.