Keep an open heart! –Don’t stint on your post-stent meds, continued: Preventing heart disease

If you have a friend who has had a stent slid into a heart artery to keep it open, pass this on to them. The newest consensus of medical opinion is for people with drug-eluting (emitting) stents to take daily doses of aspirin and Plavix for a year to reduce the risk of blood clotting in the artery. The recommendation appears in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine last week, and updates January’s blog post.

Advice: Have your friend discuss this with their doctor.

Read Barnaby Feder’s article in the NY Times, Feb. 13, page C3.