Should patients with mechanical prosthetic valves take a baby aspirin?

Prosthetic ValveAntithrombotics
Written By Lakshmi Tummala

The AHA/ACC guidelines say yes, Class IIA – but I wasn’t sure how good the supporting data was, and in fact, it’s only okay. Check out page 1713 in the attached JACC article for a nice summary of previous trials as well as a thoughtful comparison of American and European management guidelines. My take home is arguably yes if very low bleeding risk and/or poorly controlled INRs; otherwise, probably not.

Singh M, Sporn ZA, Schaff HV, Pellikka PA. ACC/AHA Versus ESC Guidelines on Prosthetic Heart Valve Management. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2019;73(13):1707-1718. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2019.01.038

Lakshmi Tummala
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