The Platelet Activity After Clopidogrel Termination (PACT) study.

Background: "Rebound" platelet hyperreactivity after discontinuation of clopidogrel has been proposed to lead to increased thrombotic risk, including late stent thrombosis. However the hypothesis that discontinuation of clopidogrel results in platelet hyperreactivity has never been rigorously tested. We therefore performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study: the Platelet Activity after Clopidogrel Termination (PACT) study.

Association of cyclooxygenase-1-dependent and -independent platelet function assays with adverse clinical outcomes in aspirin-treated patients presenting for cardiac catheterization.

Background: Poor clinical outcome in aspirin-treated patients has been termed aspirin resistance and may result from inadequate inhibition of platelet cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) by aspirin. The objectives of this study were to determine prospectively whether COX-1-dependent and other platelet function assays correlate with clinical outcomes in aspirin-treated patients.

Methods And Results: Blood was collected before percutaneous coronary intervention from 700 consecutive aspirin-treated (81 or 325 mg for > or =3 days) patients.

The active metabolite of prasugrel inhibits ADP-stimulated thrombo-inflammatory markers of platelet activation: Influence of other blood cells, calcium, and aspirin.

The novel thienopyridine prodrug prasugrel, a platelet P2Y(12) ADP receptor antagonist, requires in vivo metabolism for activity. Although pharmacological data have been collected on the effects of prasugrel on platelet aggregation, there are few data on the direct effects of the prasugrel's active metabolite, R-138727, on other aspects of platelet function. Here we examined the effects of R-138727 on thrombo-inflammatory markers of platelet activation, and the possible modulatory effects of other blood cells, calcium, and aspirin.

Cystic fibrosis heterozygotes do not have increased platelet activation.

Introduction: We have previously demonstrated platelet hyperreactivity in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Carriers of one CF mutation (heterozygotes) have been shown to have abnormalities related to the presence of only one-half the normal amount of CF transmembrane conductance regulator protein. Platelet hyperreactivity in CF heterozygotes would be an important cardiovascular risk factor, since approximately 1 in 25 Caucasians is a CF carrier.

Residual arachidonic acid-induced platelet activation via an adenosine diphosphate-dependent but cyclooxygenase-1- and cyclooxygenase-2-independent pathway: a 700-patient study of aspirin resistance.

Background: Thrombotic events still occur in aspirin-treated patients with coronary artery disease.

Methods And Results: To better understand aspirin "resistance," serum thromboxane B2 (TXB2) and flow cytometric measures of arachidonic acid-induced platelet activation (before and after the ex vivo addition of aspirin and indomethacin) were analyzed in 700 consecutive aspirin-treated patients undergoing cardiac catheterization. In 680 of 682 evaluable patients, serum TXB2 concentrations were reduced compared with nonaspirinated healthy donors.

Quantification of abciximab-induced platelet inhibition is assay dependent: a comparative study in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background: The best method for measuring the degree of platelet inhibition with glycoprotein (GP) IIb-IIIa antagonists during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and the optimal degree of periprocedural inhibition is uncertain. Low molecular weight heparins have been reported to cause less platelet activation than unfractionated heparin. Therefore, compared with unfractionated heparin (UHF), a low molecular weight heparin could enhance measured platelet inhibition.