Study Upholds Stopping Plavix Use Befo...(nsfusions but also hospital stay and che...),Health

Chest tube output is bleeding through the tube inserted for the bypass procedure.

The new study "is able to show that the five-day window is important," Becker said. "Every day you wait lessens the risk."

"The study has confirmed what we all suspected," said Dr. Jawahar L. Mehta, director of molecular cardiology and holder of the Stebbins Chair in Cardiology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. "I don't think there is anything in it that is upsetting. This was expected."

The risks of operating within the five-day period "have never been studied before in a systematic fashion," Mehta said.

Bypass surgery should not be performed until five days after Plavix is stopped, "unless there is an absolute emergency to operate, which is not often these days, because we have other approaches," Mehta said.

More information

Learn about the benefits and risks of taking clopidogrel from the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

SOURCES: Richard C. Becker, professor, medicine, Duke University, Durham, N.C.; Jawahar L. Mehta, director, molecular cardiology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock; Nov. 18, 2008, Journal of the American College of Cardiology