People who are taking aspirin regularly to thin their blood and are about to undergo coronary artery bypass surgery (冠状动脉旁路搭桥术) are usually to stop the aspirin a week before the operation – but they could be better off if they keep taking it.
    Taking aspirin up to the day coronary artery bypass grafting (移植) is performed seems to speed lung function recovery afterwards, without increasing the risk of bleeding significantly, according to a report from Israel.
    Release of a substance called thromboxane (血栓素) is associate with lung injury after heart bypass grafting, Dr Rabin Gerrah at Assuta Medical Center in Tel Aviv and his colleagues explained in the medical journal Chest. Aspirin is believed to inhibit release of thromboxane, so Gerrah’s group theorized that the administration of aspirin until the day of the surgery could improve outcomes.
    They therefore followed 14 patients who took 100 milligrams of aspirin daily until the day of the surgery and 18 who stopped taking aspirin at least 7 days before the surgery.
Those who continued with their aspirin had significantly lower thromboxane in fluid around the heart, better oxygen levels in their blood and spent less time on a ventilator than the group who discontinued taking aspirin.
    On the other hand, the need for blood transfusions was no different between the groups, indicating that bleeding complications were no worse with aspirin.