How long should people with drug-coated stents take Plavix?
There’s been a big debate about this in recent years. Originally, the FDA recommended that people take Plavix, in combination with aspirin, for three to six months after stent implantation. Then, some studies suggested that people who stopped taking Plavix/aspirin treatment after three to six months had higher rates of heart attack and death than those who continued to take it. As a result, many doctors recommended that people stay on Plavix unless there was a reason to stop taking it. The most recent evidence suggests that Plavix/aspirin treatment should be continued for two to three years after stent implantation, Halperin says. “At that point, most doctors now recommend stopping dual therapy and switching to either Plavix or aspirin alone. The risk of bleeding — the major side effect of aspirin as well as Plavix — is much higher with both drugs than with one,” he tells WebMD. Halperin says that if a patient can afford it, he recommends dropping the aspirin and continuing on Plavix
