Safety of Continuing Anti-platelet Agents During Colonoscopic Polypectomy: A Prospective Study

At our VA hospital, in general, it is the policy of our GI lab to not stop our patients anti-platelet therapy whenever they see us for a routine colonoscopy. We do this because we believe the risk of stopping these sort of medications outweigh the risks of a complication from a colonoscopy.

Therefore, we are enrolling patients who are either on clopidogrel or prasugrel or not on any anti-platelet/anti-coagulant therapy that come to our GI lab routine colonoscopies. We perform the procedure just like we normally would and then follow-up with the patient 7 and 30 days after their procedure.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients presenting to the GI lab for elective colonoscopy

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients on Coumadin or other anti-coagulants
• Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease