title: Antiplatelet is superior to anticoagulant treatment after coronary stenting: fewer coronary and other events within 30 days after stenting.
abstract: Stent prosthesis is a high efficacious method with low complication rates. However, the ideal adjunctive therapy following stent implantation remains controversial. The authors compared the effectiveness and complication rates of aspirin-ticlopidine antiplatelet therapy vs. anticoagulant therapy with acenocoumarol within 30 days following stent prosthesis. They prospectively studied 404 patients following stent prosthesis while randomly receiving anticoagulant (Group A: 201 patients) vs. antiplatelet treatment (Group B: 203 patients). Groups A and B were similar in demographic data (age, gender), stent location, clinical presentation, indication of stenting, and type of implanted stent. Chi-square test, t test, and Wilcoxon test for two samples were used for statistical analysis of the results. Stent implantation was attempted in 434 cases. This was successful in 70/85 (82%) of the bailout, 122/135 (90%) of the suboptimal, and 212/214 (99%) of the elective cases. In 201 patients anticoagulant treatment with acenocoumarol was administered for 4 weeks (group A), while 203 received antiplatelet treatment with ticlopidine (group B). The need for reintervention was less and total cardiac events were fewer in group B than in group A: three (1.5%) and nine (4.4%) vs 18 (9%) and 29 (14.4%), p<0.0008 and p<0.006 respectively. Hemorrhagic complications and total noncardiac events were fewer in group B than in group A: six (3%) and six (3%) vs. 18 (9%) and 19 (9.5%), p<0.01 and p<0.007 respectively. The length of hospital stay was shorter in group B than in A, p<0.0001. In conclusion, in this study of intracoronary stenting the authors had a high success rate in 434 attempted cases. Antiplatelet therapy was accompanied by fewer cardiac and noncardiac 1 month events when compared with anticoagulant therapy, supporting its role as the adjunctive treatment of choice post-stenting for the time being.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Cardiology, Tzanio State Hospital, Piraeus, Greece.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Foussas
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Alexopoulos
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stefanadis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Olympios
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Voudris
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hatzimiltiadis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sionis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vavouranakis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vrahatis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fakiolas
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pissimisis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stefanidis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zairis
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pavlides
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vitakis
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Louridas
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cokkinos
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Toutouzas
mesh_terms: D000074:Acenocoumarol / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000628:therapy; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001241:Aspirin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000628:therapy; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015607:Stents; D013988:Ticlopidine / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors; D000074:Acenocoumarol; D013988:Ticlopidine; D001241:Aspirin