Timing of Preoperative Aspirin Discontinuation and Outcome After Elective Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Objective Whether aspirin should be discontinued before coronary artery bypass grafting is controversial. The potential benefits and harms associated with late use of aspirin (no discontinuation or discontinuation Design Retrospective, multicenter study. Setting Two university hospitals and one central hospital. Participants A consecutive series of 859 patients who underwent elective coronary artery bypass grafting from January 2008 through December 2010. Interventions Aspirin (100 mg/day) was used 3 days before surgery in 619 patients. Results In the overall series, similar in-hospital mortality, amount of postoperative blood loss, rate of re-exploration for excessive bleeding, and use of blood products were observed in the study groups. However, aspirin discontinuation >3 days before surgery tended to be associated with a higher postoperative stroke rate (1.9% v 0.4%, p = 0.13). Such a trend was observed after off-pump (1.9% v 0%, p = 0.58) and on-pump (2.0% v 0.6%, p = 0.46) surgery. Among 153 pairs matched by the propensity score, patients with aspirin discontinued >3 days before surgery had a significantly higher rate of postoperative stroke (5.9% v 0.7%, p = 0.02) and tended to have a higher risk of the composite adverse outcome endpoint (19.6% v 12.4%, p = 0.09). The postoperative release of troponin I was similar in the study groups. Conclusions Late or no discontinuation of low-dose aspirin before coronary artery bypass grafting may decrease the risk of postoperative stroke without increased postoperative bleeding and need for blood transfusion. These findings and the risk of cardiovascular events possibly occurring at the time of its discontinuation suggest that the use of aspirin until the day of elective coronary surgery may be beneficial.