Ask the doctor: Can stopping aspirin cause heart problems?
Aspirin helps prevent heart attacks and the most common form of stroke (ischemic stroke, caused by a blood clot) by making platelets in the bloodstream less "sticky." It does this by inactivating an enzyme called cyclooxygenase (COX). Without this enzyme, platelets have a difficult time sticking to each other, a key step in the formation of a blood clot inside an artery.
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