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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Interventional Diagnostic Procedure: A Practical Guide for the Assessment of Coronary Vascular Function
Published on: March 15, 2022
[Effectiveness and safety of triple antiaggregation in patients undergoing coronary intervention]
J Latour-Pérez1, E de Miguel-Balsa, A Alcalá-López
1Servicio de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital General de Elche, Alicante. jlatour@coma.es
Insights
Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors reduce adverse cardiac events in non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS) patients pretreated with aspirin and thienopyridines. However, these inhibitors increase bleeding and thrombocytopenia risks, and their use in stable coronary patients is not justified.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Pharmacology
- Clinical Trials
Background:
- Acute coronary syndromes (ACS) are a spectrum of clinical presentations of coronary artery disease.
- Non-ST segment elevation ACS (NSTEACS) requires prompt management to reduce myocardial infarction and death.
- Percutaneous coronary revascularization (PCR) is a common intervention for coronary artery disease.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review the effectiveness and safety of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors).
- To evaluate GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors in patients with NSTEACS or stable coronary disease undergoing PCR.
- To assess outcomes in patients pre-treated with aspirin and thienopyridines.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
- Electronic searches of major databases (Medline, Embase, Pascal, Cochrane Library, ISI Proceedings).
- Inclusion of RCTs assessing clinical efficacy (death/infarction) and safety (bleeding/thrombocytopenia).
Main Results:
- Nine RCTs involving 8,604 patients were analyzed.
- GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors reduced death or myocardial infarction risk by 33% in NSTEACS patients (RR 0.67; 95%CI 0.56-0.80).
- No significant benefit was observed in stable coronary disease patients (RR 1.07; 95%CI 0.75-1.53), with increased bleeding and thrombocytopenia risks.
Conclusions:
- GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors are beneficial in reducing adverse cardiac events for NSTEACS patients pre-treated with dual antiplatelet therapy.
- The increased risk of severe bleeding and thrombocytopenia necessitates careful consideration.
- Current evidence does not support the routine use of GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors in stable coronary patients undergoing PCR.
Objective:
To evaluate glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors) effectiveness and safety in patients with non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS) or stable coronary disease referred for percutaneous coronary revascularization pre-treated with aspirin and thienopyridines by means of a systematic review.
Source Of Data:
Electronic search using Medline, Embase, Pascal, Cochrane Library and ISI Proceedings and manual review of the articles found.
Study Selection:
We included randomized controlled trials that assessed the clinical efficacy (risk of death or infarction) and safety (bleeding and thrombocytopenia) of GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors in patients pretreated with thienopyridines.
Data Extraction:
Data were obtained by duplicate.
Results:
Nine randomized controlled trials (8,604 patients) were included. Addition of GPIIb/ IIIa inhibitors reduced the risk of death or myo-cardial infarction at 30 days in those trials that included patients with NSTEACS (RR 0.67; 95%CI 0.56-0.80) but not in studies that excluded NSTEACS patients (RR 1.07; 95%CI 0.75-1.53) (p test of interaction 0.0175), As a counterpart, GPIIb/ IIIa inhibitors increased the risk of bleeding and thrombocytopenia.
Conclusions:
Use of GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors reduces the risk of adverse cardiac events in NSTEACS patients pre-treated with aspirin and thienopyridines but increases the risk of severe bleeding and thrombocytopenia. Its utilization in stable coronary patients does not seem justified.
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