Longer versus shorter blood-thinning treatment after heart stent placement

After you receive a stent to open a blocked heart artery, doctors typically prescribe two blood-thinning medications together—aspirin and clopidogrel—for one year to prevent the stent from clotting shut. This trial is testing whether people with very high lipoprotein(a) levels (a protein that increases heart disease risk) benefit from taking these medications for a longer period—24 months instead of 12 months. The goal is to see if the longer treatment prevents future heart attacks or strokes better than the standard 12-month course.

People with elevated lipoprotein(a) levels are at higher risk for future heart problems even after successful stent placement. Currently, there is no approved medication that specifically targets high lipoprotein(a), so doctors are exploring whether extending the time on blood-thinning medications might reduce that risk—but this has never been tested in a large rigorous trial.