"THE HEART OF THE MATTER"
a special program of the National Emergency Medicine Association (NEMA)
Week: 600.4
Guest: Dr. Raymond Woosley, Georgetown School of Medicine
Topic: Aspirin dosage against heart attacks
Host/Producer: Steve Girard
NEMA: How much aspirin to battle heart attacks?...coming up...
SPOT: The best emergency is one that doesn’t happen. The National Emergency Medicine Association. Visit us at www.nemahealth.org.
NEMA: We’ve been using a whole aspirin to guard against recurring heart attacks and strokes for some time...but over the years, the amount we might take has changed...this is Dr. Raymond Woosley of Georgetown School of Medicine...
WOOSLEY: One aspirin is 365 milligrams, or 5 grains. And then people began to recognize that that was even too much, and finally, people agreed that one baby aspirin per day, which is about 81 milligrams, would be enough...and the advantage there is that you don’t have as many bleeding problems. You’re just blocking the platelets from being sticky, but they can still shut off bleeding. So you’ve just reduced their ability to stick together, not totally prevented it.
NEMA: Dr. Woosley says to prevent recurring stroke, patients are often instructed to take a whole aspirin...but consult your doctor before you take aspirin as daily therapy. The American Heart Association says a whole aspirin, taken by heart attack survivors at the onset of a new attack, can save lives. I’m Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.