Readministration of abciximab in percutaneous coronary intervention

Due to abciximab's chimeric monoclonal antibody structure, there have been concerns about the risks of anaphylaxis, attenuated efficacy, and immune-mediated thrombocytopenia when abciximab is readministered to patients. The issue of repeated treatment with abciximab is increasingly timely and important given that 30-35% of the almost 500,000 patients undergoing PCI annually in the United States receive abciximab. It is likely that this number will increase as lessons learned from recently completed trials with abciximab become integrated into day-to-day clinical practice. Accordingly, the purpose of this review is to identify the theoretic adverse effects of abciximab readministration and their potential mechanisms, analyze the available clinical data from patients re-treated with abciximab, and to offer some practical guidelines for abciximab readministration.