Why It Is Used
Antiplatelet medications are used for people with unstable angina or a heart attack and people with angina who have angioplasty.
Ticlopidine or clopidogrel is used for people who cannot take aspirin or who still get blood clots while on aspirin therapy. These medications are commonly given for at least 1 month and often longer after stents have been placed in one or more coronary arteries. These medications may also be used in combination with aspirin to help decrease the formation of blood clots inside the stented artery.
How Well It Works
Ticlopidine and clopidogrel may decrease the risk of heart attack and stroke more effectively than aspirin alone in people who have coronary artery disease. One study showed that taking aspirin combined with clopidogrel (Plavix) for unstable angina or heart attack reduced the risk of death, another heart attack, or stroke by 20%.1
One study showed that starting clopidogrel therapy before angioplasty and continuing it for at least 8 months reduced the risk of death or heart attack by about one-third when compared with no therapy.2
Side Effects
Some side effects of these antiplatelet drugs may include:
- Increased bleeding (hemorrhage) in the brain or other internal organs.
- Bleeding in the stomach or intestines.
- Increased bruising.
- Stomach irritation.
- Allergic reaction.
- Low platelet count (thrombocytopenia), low white blood cell count (neutropenia), and low red cell count (anemia).
See Drug Reference for a full list of side effects. (Drug Reference is not available in all systems.)
What To Think About
All antiplatelet drugs increase the risk of bleeding.
Complete the new medication information form (PDF)
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References
Citations
Clopidogrel in Unstable Angina to Prevent Recurrent Events (CURE) Trial Investigators (2001). Effects of clopidogrel in addition to aspirin in patients with acute coronary syndromes without ST-segment elevation. New England Journal of Medicine, 345(23): 494–502.
Mehta SR, et al. (2001). Effects of pretreatment with clopidogrel and aspirin followed by long-term therapy in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: The PCI-CURE study. Lancet, 358(9281): 527–533.
Credits
| Author | Robin Parks, MS |
| Editor | Kathleen M. Ariss, MS |
| Associate Editor | Pat Truman |
| Primary Medical Reviewer | Caroline S. Rhoads, MD - Internal Medicine |
| Specialist Medical Reviewer | Stephen Fort, MD, MRCP, FRCPC - Interventional Cardiology |
| Last Updated | May 14, 2007 |
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