Compared with patients with chronic coronary syndromes, patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) are more likely to suffer from long term major adverse cardiac events (MACE). To prevent this, both the American and the European guidelines recommend prolonging dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in this population for at least 12 months. However, in patients with certain clinical…
Acute Coronary Syndrome: What Is Safer, Antiaggregant Monotherapy or De-Escalation?
For several years it has been shown that 12-month dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is mandatory for patients undergoing left main PCI for acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, though this strategy does reduce thrombotic events and mortality, it also causes undesirable bleeding events followed by hospitalization and antiaggregation interruption for a period of time. A feasible…
Clnical Practice Dissociated from Study Outcomes: Bad News for Our Patients?
Differences in patient characteristics, changes in treatment algorithms, and advances in device technology, together or separately, might limit the applicability of older randomized trials to contemporary clinical practice. In this case, we look at patients and devices used in the contemporary clinical practice vs. those in the EXTEND DAPT. These differences were associated with attenuated…
TCT 2021 | STOPDAPT-2 and MASTER-DAPT: The Conversation Continues from ESC to TCT
Research on short-term dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is still controversial. These discussions, however, seem to lead to the consensus that beyond the “category” of bleeding or ischemic risk, what is most important is a decision tailored to the patient being treated. DAPT duration should be individual, instead of standardized by a risk score. In the…
TCT 2021 | STOPDAPT-2 and MASTER-DAPT: The Conversation Continues from ESC to TCT
Research on short-term dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is still controversial. These discussions, however, seem to lead to the consensus that beyond the “category” of bleeding or ischemic risk, what is most important is a decision tailored to the patient being treated. DAPT duration should be individual, instead of standardized by a risk score. In the…
STOPDAPT-2 ACS: One-Month DAPT NOT Enough in acute patients
One-month dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in patients undergoing acute coronary syndrome (ACS) did not reach the safety and efficacy results observed in the general population of the original trial STOPDAPT-2. The STOPDAPT-2 ACS compared one-month DAPT followed by clopidogrel monotherapy for one year vs. one-year DAPT after PCI. Initially, the study enrolled mostly stable patients…
DAPT vs. Monotherapy: The Dilemma Remains After Surgery
Patients who undergo myocardial revascularization surgery and are discharged on dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT)—aspirin plus clopidogrel—have a lower risk of major cardiovascular and cerebral events than patients on aspirin monotherapy. Furthermore, the risk of bleeding is not increased for those receiving DAPT. This information comes from a registry of over 18,000 patients recently published in the…
Very Short Dual Antiplatelet Therapy after Complex PCI
The 1-month outcomes of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) followed by clopidogrel monotherapy were comparable to 12-month DAPT in patients with both simple and complex PCI. There was no significant interaction between DAPT period and procedure difficulty. This is a post hoc study of the STOPDAPT-2 that looked at the complex PCI patient subgroup. It is…
Single or Dual Antiplatelet Therapy in Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack?
Antiplatelet therapy is key to prevent thrombotic events after a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or ischemic stroke. The role of aspirin is well established in this scenario, but there is emerging evidence for a short period of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT). Now, can this strategy avoid recurrent strokes without paying a price in terms of…
Back to Basics: Ticagrelor Questioned and Clopidogrel in the Limelight
Yet another observational study has come to question the antiaggregation power of ticagrelor when it comes to death or MI reduction, pointing at its higher risk of bleeding vs. clopidogrel. This new analysis recently published in JAHA includes a large number of patients undergoing acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in the clinical practice. Ticagrelor has been…