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Boosting platelet inhibition in poor responder to aspirin and clopidogrel undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: role of tirofiban

Authors Campo G, Fileti L, Valgimigli M, Jlenia M, Scalone A, Ferrari R

Published 10 May 2010 Volume 2010:1 Pages 61—69

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/JBM.S7236

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 2



Gianluca Campo1, Luca Fileti1, Marco Valgimigli1, Jlenia Marchesini1, Antonella Scalone1, Roberto Ferrari1,2

1Cardiovascular Institute, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria S Anna, Ferrara, Italy; 2Cardiovascular Research Centre, Salvatore Maugeri Foundation, IRCCS Gussago (BS), Italy

Abstract: Nowadays, aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) and clopidogrel form the cornerstone in prevention of cardiovascular events and their clinical effectiveness has been well established. The thienopyridine clopidogrel is a prodrug that, after hepatic metabolization, strongly inhibits adenosine diphosphate-induced platelet aggregation. Aspirin is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug that exerts its anti-platelet action through the irreversible acetylation of platelet cyclooxygenase (COX)-1, blocking thromboxane A2 production. However, despite dual-antiplatelet therapy, some patients still develop recurrent cardiovascular ischemic events. Many studies have clearly showed that a marked variability exists in the responsiveness to aspirin and clopidogrel, being the poor responder patients at higher risk of short (peri-procedural) and long-term ischemic complications. In particular, these patients showed a major recurrence of myocardial infarction and, after stent implantation, of stent thrombosis. The mechanisms of aspirin and clopidogrel poor response are numerous and not fully elucidated, and are likely multifactorial (eg, genetic polymorphisms, elevated baseline platelet reactivity, drug interaction). How to improve the short- and long-term outcome of these patients is currently unknown. Recently published and ongoing clinical trials are evaluating different strategies for the acute and chronic treatments (eg, reload of clopidogrel, double clopidogrel maintenance dose, switching to prasugrel). In this paper, we reviewed all available evidence on aspirin and clopidogrel resistance and focused our attention on tirofiban, a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor that may be used to obtain a better platelet inhibition in poor responder patients during the acute phase and in particular during percutaneous coronary intervention.

Keywords: aspirin, clopidogrel, tirofiban, resistance, VerifyNow, Multiplate Analyzer

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