late stent thrombosis

The recent cardiology meeting in Barcelona reported on a significant number of late stent thrombosis cases in patients with drug eluted stents and the probable need for longer prescribing of Plavix.  I am 41 months post lad stenting and wonder if I should start up Plavix again sinceI think  they reported a .6% increase in thrombosis per year after patients went off Plavix.  Since there are 6 million patients with stents, I believe that the iatrogenic need for long term Plavix is going to be a potentially big problem for cardiologists and GPs.   Thank you for your comments.

[CCF-M.D.-BJ]

triq,

thanks for the post.

The topic is an important one. There are no definitive answers and there is a lot of concern in the cardiology community about this phenomenon. Please refer to the post below  "Plavix dosing following drug eluting stents - morningglory2006 09/29/2006" for a more detailed discussion.

thanks

[MaryRoe]

Al, I just Commented below on this issue.  It is not just the fact that we may have to be on Plavix the rest of our lives to keep the DES open but articles are listing the coating in these stents as toxic.  This toxcitity can affect the well being of the patient and God only knows...now what.  I have Four of them in me.