Influence of heparin coating of coronary stents and ex vivo efficacy of different doses of acetylsalicylic acid and ticlopidine in a pulsed floating model of recirculating human plasma.

Acute occlusion of stented coronary vessels still occurs in up to 3%. Activated platelets have been found to play a major role in the pathogenesis of these complications. We therefore analyzed the efficacy of a heparin coating of coronary stents and investigated the ex vivo efficacy of different antiplatelet drugs.