Ask the doctors: Is it safe to stop taking my antiplatelet therapy?
A. Your cardiologist will most likely ask your surgeon to let you continue taking the aspirin through the surgical period. However, you should stop clopidogrel at least a couple of weeks before surgery, if there is time, and you and your cardiologist should discuss whether it should be restarted at all afterward. The evidence that clopidogrel is helpful for more than six to 12 months after stent placement is slim. Without clopidogrel, you will be able to go through life with fewer bruises
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