Antiplatelet therapy

Antiplatelet Therapy – Recent Advances

Haemostatic function of platelets is vital & their pathological role is potentially lethal. In pathological states there is over activation and aggregation of blood platelets resulting in atherothrombosis causes various states from angina to acute coronary syndromes, stroke and peripheral artery diseases. Platelets are anuclear subcellular fragments derived from megakaryocytes that circulate in...

Perioperative antiplatelet therapy.

Aspirin is recommended as a lifelong therapy that should never be interrupted for patients with cardiovascular dis- ease. Clopidogrel therapy is mandatory for six weeks after placement of bare-metal stents, three to six months after myocardial infarction, and at least 12 months after placement of drug-eluting stents. Because of the hypercoagulable state induced by surgery, early withdrawal of a...

Antiplatelet therapy in cardiovascular disease.

Platelet activation and aggregation are considered to be central to arterial thrombus formation. Antiplatelet therapy is therefore important for both the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease. Aspirin, the most widely used antiplatelet agent, inhibits platelet cyclo-oxygenase and the conversion of arachidonic acid to the potent platelet agonist thromboxane A(2) but does not prevent...

Antiplatelet therapy following stent deployment.

Concurrent antiplatelet and fibrinolytic therapy.

In patients who have myocardial infarction with STsegment elevation, rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque leads to platelet adhesion, activation, and aggregation, with subsequent vessel occlusion due to thrombus formation. In these circumstances, the most effective pharmacologic reperfusion regimen is concurrent fibrinolytic therapy and platelet inhibition. The marked benefit of such a combinat...