IMR Press / RCM / Volume 23 / Issue 9 / DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2309297
Open Access Review
Current Status and Future Direction of Antithrombotic Therapy for Patients with STEMI Undergoing Primary PCI
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1 Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584CX Utrecht, The Netherlands
2 Department of Cardiology, Amsterdam UMC location AMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
3 Cardiovascular Science Program (ICCC), IR-Hospital de la Santa Creu I Santa Pau-IIBSantPau, CiberCV, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08025 Barcelona, Spain
4 Department of Cardiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL 32209, USA
*Correspondence: g.vlachojannis@umcutrecht.nl (Georgios J. Vlachojannis)
Academic Editors: Antonio Mangieri, George Dangas and Christian Hengstenberg
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2022, 23(9), 297; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2309297
Submitted: 6 May 2022 | Revised: 30 June 2022 | Accepted: 26 July 2022 | Published: 5 September 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Percutaneous Coronary Intervention)
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Since the introduction of the first pharmacological therapy for the treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction in the early 20th century, treatment of myocardial infarction has evolved extensively throughout the years. Mechanical revascularization therapies such as the percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, combined with the ongoing development of pharmacological therapies have successfully improved the survival of patients with acute myocardial infarction. To date, antiplatelet therapy (consisting of aspirin and an oral P2Y12 inhibitor) and anticoagulation therapy represent the main stay of pharmacological treatment in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The routine use of clopidogrel as antiplatelet agent has been largely replaced by the use of the more potent P2Y12 inhibitors ticagrelor and prasugrel. Unfractionated heparin remains the preferred anticoagulant therapy, despite the development of other anticoagulants, including enoxaparin and bivalirudin. To date, limited evidence exists supporting a pre-hospital initiation of antiplatelet and anticoagulant therapy in STEMI patients. The use of potent intravenous antiplatelet agents, including the glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors and the intravenous P2Y12 inhibitor cangrelor, is currently restricted to specific clinical settings. While several potent antithrombotic agents already exist, the search for novel potent antithrombotic agents continues, with a focus on balancing antithrombotic properties with an improved safety profile to reduce excess bleeding. This review provides an overview of currently available pharmacological therapies for the treatment of STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI, and an outlook for the ongoing development of novel agents in this field.

Keywords
ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction
STEMI
antithrombotic therapy
antiplatelet therapy
anticoagulation
primary percutaneous coronary intervention
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