European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Apr 2017
Observational StudyPlatelet function recovery after ticagrelor withdrawal in patients awaiting urgent coronary surgery.
Dual antiplatelet therapy with ticagrelor and aspirin is associated with an increased risk of perioperative bleeding complications. Current guidelines recommend therefore discontinuation of ticagrelor 5 days before surgery to allow sufficient recovery of platelet function. It is not known how the time to recovery varies between individual patients after discontinuation of ticagrelor. ⋯ Adenosine diphosphate-induced aggregation was acceptable after 72 h in the majority of patients but with a large interindividual variability. Due to the large variability, platelet function testing may prove to be a valuable tool in timing of surgery in patients with ongoing or recently stopped ticagrelor treatment. Adenosine diphosphate-induced aggregation was not improved by addition of platelet concentrate.