Should Antiplatelets Be Stopped?

Prof (Dr) Anjan Lal Dutta, Director, Cardiology, Peerless Hospital, Kolkata, will discuss about a patient who had an angioplasty done a year ago has to be operated for gall bladder surgery and whether the antiplatelets should be stopped. He says that since it is one year so it is safe to stop one antiplatelet drug. Aspirin can be continued as it is quite compatible with major surgeries too. Gall bladder surgery can be done without stopping the aspirin. Clopidogrel should be stopped five days before the surgery. Before stopping the antiplatelets, certain things have to be checked by the cardiologists, which stents are used, age group, risk factors, etc. he will further discuss other surgical conditions also in which the clopidogrel has to be stopped.