Management of acute coronary syndromes with fondaparinux

Fondaparinux is the first selective inhibitor of the coagulation factor Xa which is commercially avaliable for clinical use. It has been approved for the prevention of venous thromboembolism in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery and for the initial therapy of venous thromboembolism. In randomized clinical trials the value of fondaparinux in the treatment of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) has been investigated. The PENTALYSE study showed that fondaparinux was at least as effective and safe as unfractionated heparin in 333 patients with STEMI undergoing fibrinolysis with t-PA. In the recent large OASIS-6 trial with 12,092 patients the treatment with 2.5 mg fondaparinux daily significantly reduced death and reinfarctions until day 30 compared with guideline recommended usual care and compared with unfractionated heparin (9.7% vs 11.2%, p = 0.008) without increasing major bleedings (1.0% vs 1.3%, p = 0.13). This advantage was predominantly seen in the subgroups of patients with fibrinolysis and without early reperfusion therapy. However, in the subgroup of primary percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) no clinical benefit of fondaparinux was found, but there were more catheter thrombosis and acute thrombotic complications. In summary, fondaparinux is a new antithrombin that is an efficient, safe, and easy to use in treatment for STEMI patients, particularly those not undergoing primary PCI.