Review Article

A Review of Antiplatelet Drugs, Coronary Artery Diseases and Cardiopulmonary Bypass

^* Hospital Clinical Services Group, Lakeland Regional Medical Center, St. Joseph, Michigan
^† School of Perfusion Technology, Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas

Address correspondence to: Yajun Ren, Hospital Clinical Services Group, Lakeland Regional Medical Center, 1234 Napier Avenue, St. Joseph, MI 49085. E-mail: yajunr@hotmail.com

Received: 12 May 2009
Accepted: 16 January 2010

Abstract

Platelets play a major role in the thromboembolic diseases and upon vascular injury, especially arterial vascular injury. These platelets rapidly adhere to the exposed subendothelial area, where they become activated by contacting with stimulants. Antiplatelet therapy remains extremely important in treatment and prophylaxis of arterial thromboembolic disorders such as coronary arterial diseases and stroke. The antiplatelet drugs (APDs) are among the most widely used in the world. Based on the molecular targets, APDs are classified as Thromboxane A2 pathway blockers, ADP receptor antagonists, GPIIa/IIIb antagonists, adenosine reuptake inhibitors, phosphodiesterase inhibitors, thrombin receptor inhibitors, and others. Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is an important therapeutic approach to treat coronary artery disease. Long-term success after CABG depends on the patency of the bypass vessels. Since platelets play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of thrombosis in the blood vessels, APDs are broadly used to reduce serious cardiovascular events. Platelets also are an integral part of inflammation and APDs have demonstrated to reduce the inflammation mediators in the healthy volunteers and coronary artery disease patients; it will be an interesting topic to determine if platelet inhibition will attenuate CPB-induced systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Due to concerns of post-op bleeding with use of APDs, it is a common practice to withhold APDs prior to surgery; however, recent studies have demonstrated that continuation of APDs prior to surgery (even until the day of surgery) does not increase the risk of post-op bleeding. With extensive use of APDs in cardiovascular thromboembolic events, APD resistance becomes problematic in clinical antiplatelet therapy. Since there is no standardized or universal definition available to quantify APDs resistance, a clinically meaningful definition of APD resistance needs to be developed based on data linking laboratory tests to clinical outcomes in patients.