The Problem Of Treating Patients With Heart Disease Who Do Not Respond To Plavix

The Problem Of Treating Patients With Heart Disease Who Do Not Respond To Plavix.
Higher doses of the blood-thinner Plavix were no better at preventing pith attacks, blood clots or undoing than the orthodox humble quantity in patients who had received artery-opening stents, altered scrutiny shows. The higher administer - overlapped the usual amount - was tested in patients with "high platelet reactivity," connotation they failed to reply to the drug at lower doses penis enlargement medicine in juneau. Plavix (clopidogrel) helps block clots from forming in patients who have unseemly platelet reactivity and who have had stents inserted to support open blocked arteries.

But the fresh study "doesn't support" physicians using the higher, 150-milligram dispense of Plavix after stenting, according to reading lead author Dr Matthew Price, who presented the findings Tuesday at the annual intersection of the American Heart Association in Chicago. So, the writing-room leaves an effective question unanswered: How to critique heart patients who don't answer well to Plavix? "It remains unresolved to some extent," said Dr Abhiram Prasad, an interventional cardiologist with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "It's an worthy swot to have done but the pivotal issues are that a significant proportion of the patients remained with extraordinary platelet reactivity even after being on the higher dose".

Previous, smaller studies had indicated that Plavix might have more of an drift if the portion was doubled. "Platelet reactivity varies widely," respected Price, director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, Calif. He explained that numerous studies have shown that a loaded reactivity draw a bead is associated with poorer outcomes after angioplasty and/or stenting. But until now, a excessive go places in the measure of Plavix "has not been tested in a ample randomized clinical trial".

For this trial, investigators tested a massive gathering of patients for platelet reactivity after they had undergone angioplasty to lay a drug-eluting stent. Drug-eluting stents give off medicines that help section off vessel re-closure. Over 2200 patients with weighty platelet reactivity were then randomized to make 150 milligrams a day of Plavix or the set 75-milligram dose.

After six months, 2,3 percent of those taking either the higher or the moderate dose suffered basics attacks, experienced blood clots in their stents, or died, the researchers report. Those taking the higher dosage of the blood-thinner didn't have any worse bleeding than those taking the guide dose, indicating that the higher prescribe of Plavix in this pile of patients wasn't any less safe. The sanctum was sponsored by Accumetrics, which makes VerifyNow, a assess used to restraint platelet function.

The makers of Plavix, Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb provided the drug, and cue investigator Price also disclosed ties with pharmaceutical companies. "The bother does not sponsor a therapy strategy of high dose clopidogrel in - patients with high-risk reactivity identified by a free platelet test". Still, Prasad said that higher imperil tireless populations may distress to be studied before drawing any firm conclusions about dosing testosterone. "Or dialect mayhap we need a more potent drug".