Does clopidogrel therapy reduce adverse ischemic events in patients following percutaneous coronary intervention?
Long-term clopidogrel therapy after PCI reduces ischemic events, and longer intervals between a pre-procedure loading dose and PCI may offer additional benefit.
Following PCI, long-term (1-year) clopidogrel therapy significantly reduced the risk of adverse ischemic events. A loading dose of clopidogrel given at least 3 hours before the procedure did not reduce events at 28 days, but subgroup analyses suggest that longer intervals between the loading dose and PCI may reduce events.
Steinhubl et al. (Wed,) studied this question.