The Impact of Early Surgery and Maintenance of Antiplatelet Therapy on Intraoperative Bleeding and Major Adverse Cardiovascular Event After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Recent guidelines of the ACC/AHA suggest that elective non-cardiac surgery (NCS) should optimally be delayed one year after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stent (DES). Regarding the antiplatelet agents, dual antiplatelet therapy, or at least aspirin is recommended to be continued considering the relative risk of bleeding and stent thrombosis especially during the first 4 to 6 weeks after DES implantation. However, these recommendations are based upon insufficient and conflicting evidences.