Inpharma 1438 - 22 May 2004

■ Use of heparin-coated rather than noncoatedstents may improve short-term clinical outcomes inpatients undergoing percutaneous coronaryintervention for acute myocardial infarction (MI), sayresearchers from Israel. This nonrandomised studyincluded 238 patients who underwent intracoronarystent implantation, either using a heparin-coated[HepaCoat] stent (n = 124) or a non-heparin-coatedstent.* Patients were prospectively followed for a totalof 180 days. Clinical outcomes at 30 days, such as in-hospital death, recurrent acute MI and stentthrombosis, were significantly better among patientsreceiving heparin-coated stents, compared with thosereceiving non-heparin-coated stents (0% vs 4.4%, 1.6%vs 7% and 0.8% vs 6.1%, respectively). However, therewere no significant differences in clinical outcomesbetween the two groups at 180 days.* During the procedure, patients received unfractionated IVheparin, a bolus of 70 U/kg, adjusted to achieve an activatedclotting time of 225–300 sec. Most patients also received GPIIb/IIIainhibitors. After the procedure, all patients received aspirin200 mg/day and a loading dose of oral clopidogrel 300mg followedby 75 mg/day orally for one month, followed by aspirin alone at adosage of 100 mg/day.

Lev EI, et al. Comparison of outcomes up to six months of heparin-coatedwith noncoated stents after percutaneous coronary intervention for acutemyocardial infarction. American Journal of Cardiology 93: 741-743, No. 6, 15Mar 2004 800976581

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Inpharma 22 May 2004 No. 14381173-8324/10/1438-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved