BACKGROUND Anticoagulant and antithrombotic agents are frequently cited as sources of medication errors. Several factors increase the risk of receiving excess dosing of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors in the management of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), including older age, female gender, elevated serum creatinine, a history of diabetes mellitus, and a history of heart failure. In June 2003, th...

BACKGROUND Early restoration of epicardial flow before primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) has been associated with improved clinical outcomes. METHODS We hypothesized that early administration of the glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor eptifibatide in the emergency department (ED) would yield superior epicardial flow and myocard...

BACKGROUND Platelet deposition and aggregation are central to the pathogenesis of ischemic complications of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Pharmacodynamic effects of the platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa antagonist eptifibatide have been delineated in healthy subjects but not in patients with ACS. We assessed effects of eptifibatide on ex vivo platelet aggregation in patients enrolled in the Plat...

Eptifibatide is the active substance of the medicinal product Integrilin. Eptifibatide is an anti-platelet agent with high affinity and specificity for the Glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptor that mediates platelet aggregation. Eptifibatide is an inhibitor of platelet aggregation and belongs to a new class of RGD mimeticsarginin (R), glycin (G), aspartic acid (D). Eptifibatide reversibly inhibi...

BACKGROUND Patients with a recent episode of non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome before CABG have higher rates of operative morbidity and mortality than patients with stable coronary syndromes. The efficacy of administering eptifibatide to these patients undergoing in-hospital CABG is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS The Platelet Glycoprotein IIb-IIIa in Unstable Angina: Receptor Sup...

BACKGROUND Platelet glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa antagonists prevent the composite end point of death or myocardial infarction (MI) in patients with acute coronary syndromes. There is uncertainty about whether this effect is confined to patients who have percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) and whether PCIs further prevent death or MI in patients already treated with GP IIb/IIIa antagonists...

BACKGROUND Pretreatment is not the most common strategy practiced for clopidogrel administration in elective coronary stenting. Moreover, limited information is available on the antiplatelet pharmacodynamics of a 300-mg versus a 600-mg clopidogrel loading dose, and the comparative effect of eptifibatide with these regimens is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS Patients undergoing elective stenting ...

INTRODUCTION Eptifibatide is a platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (GP IIb/IIIa) receptor antagonist that inhibits fibrinogen binding to the activated GP IIb/IIIa site and prevents platelet-platelet interaction and clot formation. GP IIb/IIIa inhibitors improve outcome in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention for acute coronary syndrome. Thrombocytopenia is a complication of GP IIb/...

BACKGROUND There is no proven treatment for stroke progression in patients with subcortical infarcts. Eptifibatide, a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor, might halt stroke progression by improving flow in the microcirculation. METHODS We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients with subcortical stroke who experienced deterioration and were treated with eptifibatide (loading dose 180 microg...

CRITICALCARENURSE Vol 26, No. 3, JUNE 2006 19 2. Paradiso-Hardy FL, Madan M, Radhakrishnan S, Hurden S, Cohen EA. Severe thrombocytopenia possibly related to readministration of eptifibatide. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv. September 2001;54:63-67. 3. Hongo RH, Brent BN. Association of eptifibatide and acute profound thrombocytopenia. Am J Cardiol. 2001;88:428-431. 4. Yoder M, Edwards RF. Reversibl...