title: Meta-Analysis of Oral Anticoagulants with Dual versus Single Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The combined use of dual antiplatelet therapy with oral anticoagulation (OAC) is required after coronary artery stenting or acute coronary syndromes (ACS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We performed a meta-analysis (Embase and MEDLINE search) of the comparative effects of triple antithrombotic therapy (TT) versus OAC with single antiplatelet therapy (dual therapy [DT]) on all-cause mortality, stroke, cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction (MI), target vessel revascularization, and major bleeding. Three prospective controlled studies and five cohort studies compared TT versus DT. We identified three prospective controlled and five cohort studies with 4564 patients on TT and 1848 on DT with an average follow-up duration of 10.1 months. TT is associated with similar rates of all-cause mortality, stroke, and major bleeding but significantly lower rates of MI compared with DT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Triple antithrombotic therapy is associated with similar mortality and bleeding rates but fewer MIs compared with OAC and single antiplatelet therapy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA. alexbriasoulis@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alexandros
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Briasoulis
authors.affiliation: Barts Heart Centre, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, UK.|1st Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Papageorgiou
authors.affiliation: 1st Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Efimia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zacharia
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Mohan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Palla
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Mohamad Darwich
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: El Abdallah
authors.affiliation: 1st Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.|John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Androulakis
authors.affiliation: 1st Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tousoulis
mesh_terms: D054058:Acute Coronary Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D062645:Percutaneous Coronary Intervention / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors