Purpose of review: Perioperative management of antiplatelet agents (APAs) in the setting of noncardiac surgery is a controversial topic of balancing bleeding versus thrombotic risks.
Recent findings: Recent data do not support a clear association between continuation or discontinuation of APAs and rates of ischemic events, bleeding complications, and mortality up to 6 months after surgery. Clinical factors, such as indication and urgency of the operation, time since stent placement, invasiveness of the procedure, preoperative cardiac optimization, underlying functional status, as well as perioperative control of supply-demand mismatch and bleeding may be more responsible for adverse outcome than antiplatelet management.
Summary: Perioperative management of antiplatelet therapy (APT) should be individually tailored based on consensus among the anesthesiologist, cardiologist, surgeon, and patient to minimize both ischemic/thrombotic and bleeding risks. Where possible, surgery should be delayed for a minimum of 1 month but ideally for 3-6 months from the index cardiac event. If bleeding risk is acceptable, dual APT (DAPT) should be continued perioperatively; otherwise P2Y12 inhibitor therapy should be discontinued for the minimum amount of time possible and aspirin monotherapy continued. If bleeding risk is prohibitive, both aspirin and P2Y12 inhibitor therapy should be interrupted and bridging therapy may be considered in patients with high thrombotic risk.