Aspirin Is Not Effective In All Cases Of Coronary Heart Disease

Two studies presented at the last American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, suggest that Aspirin should not be used or prescribed blindly for people suffering from Coronary Artery Disease. The reason for this is that these studies proved that there is not the hitherto presumed kind of uniformity in aspirin’s ability to reduce vascular events or its anti-platelet effect particularly in stroke patients.

Dr. Kandice Kottke-Marchant, head of haemostasis and thrombosis - department of clinical pathology at the Cleveland Clinic, and her colleagues evaluated, through a series of blood tests and clinical observation, 328 patients with stable cardiovascular disease who were taking 325 mg/day of aspirin for at least seven days. The platelet function analyser test (PFA100) can rapidly screen a large number of patients for aspirin-resistance and is a sensitive test. This test showed that 9.1% patients were resistant to aspirin. These patients tended to be slightly younger while those that were semi-responders to aspirin were slightly older. Also the higher proportion of the population among both the aspirin resistant and semi-responders were females compared with the aspirin sensitive patients who were men and also more likely to be smokers!

Another study was carried out at the University of Maryland, Baltimore by Dr. Maribeth Friend and colleagues on 63 patients with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) who were taking 325 mg/day of aspirin. They found that those who had high cholesterol were less responsive to aspirin than those whose cholesterol was within normal limits. In other words 57% of the patients with total cholesterol more than 220 mg/dL were poor responders to aspirin compared with only 20% with levels less than 180mg/dL.

Subsequent to these studies, it was recommended that alternative anti-platelet drugs be advised for patients with reduced platelet responsiveness to aspirin. For this a thorough work-up of each patient specifically for this purpose would be required and could in fact be requested by the patients themselves before they start taking aspirin on a regular basis.

Source: Cardiology Today , Vol. 4, No. 2.

Similar of Aspirin Is Not Effective In All Cases Of Coronary Heart Disease

The Management of Patients with Valvular Heart Disease

Valvular heart disease affects a large number of patients who require diagnostic procedures and decisions regarding their long-term management. Unlike many

Risk Factors for Coronary Artery Disease

Scientists and physicians have been able to identify direct and indirect risk factors for the development of cholesterol-based narrowings in the blood vessels

Evolution of Drug Coated Coronary Stents : A Major Breakthrough in Managing Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary Artery Stenosis is a common Cardiac problem leading to heart attack. Instead of Coronary Bypass Surgery, Balloon Angioplasty has become a popular

Coronary Heart Disease in Women

Coronary heart disease remains unusual in women before menopause, particularly in the absence of known risk factors like diabetes, hypertension etc. Menopause

Management of Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world, accounting for nearly 1 million of deaths each year in the United States

Coronary Heart Disease

What It is? Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) occurs due to the narrowing or total blockage of one or more of the coronary arteries that feed the heart thus

A Major Breakthrough In Heart Treatment

Aspirin is the standard treatment for patients suffering from coronary heart disease. The breakthrough treatment consists of a daily dose of aspirin and an

Topics:

• Healthy Heart