BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE No approved acute therapy exists for thousands of patients with ischemic stroke who present ineligible for thrombolytics. The purpose of this proof-of-concept study was to evaluate the efficacy of acute antiplatelet loading on stroke outcome in the rabbit small clot embolic model. METHODS Sixty male New Zealand white rabbits were embolized via small clots into the middl...

Recent clinical data show that the risk of coronary thrombosis after antiplatelet drugs withdrawal is much higher than that of surgical bleeding if they are continued. In secondary prevention, aspirin is a lifelong therapy and should never be stopped. Clopidogrel is regarded as mandatory until the coronary stents are fully endothelialized, which takes 3 months for bare metal stents, but up to 1...

Antiplatelet therapy with P2Y12 receptor inhibitors has become the cornerstone of medical treatment in patients with acute coronary syndrome, after percutaneous coronary intervention and in secondary prevention of atherothrombotic events. Clopidogrel used to be the most broadly prescribed P2Y12 receptor inhibitor with undisputable benefits especially in combination with aspirin, but a considera...

Since more than 20 years, aspirin is an approved and established first-line antiplatelet medication in cardiovascular prevention. This is partially due to ist unique mode of action which is not shared with any other antiplatelet agent as well by the reliability of its pharmacological efficacy: inhibition of platelet COX-1 and subsequent thromboxane formation in almost every patient. Aspirin act...

BACKGROUND Low responsiveness to clopidogrel (LRC) is associated with increased risk of ischemic events. This study was aimed to explore the feasibility of tailored antiplatelet therapy according to the responsiveness to clopidogrel. METHODS A total of 305 clopidogrel naïve patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) undergoing coronary stenting were randomly assigned to receive standard (n ...

BACKGROUND Dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and thienopyridine is required after placement of coronary drug-eluting stents (DES) to prevent thrombotic complications. Current clinical guidelines recommend at least 6 to 12 months of treatment after a DES implantation, but it may be beneficial to apply dual antiplatelet therapy for a longer duration. METHODS/DESIGN The optimal dual antipla...

OBJECTIVES To elucidate the association between antiplatelet use in patients with non-haemorrhagic moyamoya disease before hospital admission and good functional status on admission in Japan. DESIGN Retrospective, multicentre, non-randomised, observational study. SETTING Nationwide registry data in Japan. PARTICIPANTS A total of 1925 patients with non-haemorrhagic moyamoya disease admitte...

SEE PAGES 2309 AND 2318 D rugs that inhibit platelet activation and aggregation reduce vascular events, notably myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic stroke, and are generally associated with low rates of bleeding (1). Available agents inhibit platelets via distinct mechanisms (Table 1) (2), and combining antiplatelet drugs with different mechanisms of action should enhance net antithrombotic...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Despite the favorable efficacy of new antiplatelet agents demonstrated in randomized controlled trials, their clinical implications in Korea are unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate trends in antiplatelet agent use for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and their impact on 30-day clinical outcomes. METHODS AMI patients undergoing percutaneous coronary...

Some patients who need dual antiplatelet therapy sometimes require tracheotomy. Aim of this study was to compare the rate of complications during and after surgical tracheotomy between patients requiring dual antiplatelet therapy and those without dual antiplatelet therapy. We retrospectively included 79 patients (62% men, mean age 64 ± 14 years) in the period 2007-2011. The following complicat...