Discontinue prasugrel 7 days before surgery – Recovery Trial

Recovery Trial assessed the platelet reactivity after discontinuation of prasugrel and clopidogrel to see how many prior to surgery, the drug has to be stopped [Price MJ et al. Recovery of Platelet Function After Discontinuation of Prasugrel or Clopidogrel Maintenance Dosing in Aspirin-Treated Patients With Stable Coronary Disease. The Recovery Trial. J Am Coll Cardiol, 2012; 59:2338-2343]. Patients on aspirin for coronary artery disease were randomized to either prasugrel 10 mg or clopidogrel 75 mg daily for a period of 7 days. Platelet reactivity was measured before giving the study drug and up to 12 days after drug discontinuation. More than 75 percent of patients returned to baseline platelet reactivity within 7 days after discontinuation while similar effect was achieved within 5 days for clopidogrel. The timing was consistent with the current guidelines for discontinuation of these drugs prior to surgery.