ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the safety and efficacy of policosanol in elder patients with high on-treatment platelet reactivity ( HPR) after drug-eluting stent ( DES) implantation. Methods This study was a prespecified subgroup analysis of the multicenter, randomized SPIRIT trial,in which there were a total of 169 elder patients (≥60 years old) with HPR. Among these patients, 30 patients were in group A ( given clopidogrel 75 mg/d for one year) , 75 patients in group B ( given clopidogrel 150 mg/d for 30 days followed by 75 mg/d until one year ) and 64 patients in group C ( given policosanol 40 mg/d for 6 month and clopidgrel 75 mg/d for one year ) . All patients were treated with aspirin at the same time. The primary endpoint was the reversion rate of HPR at 30 days (reversion was defined as platelet aggregation ﹤65%). The secondary endpoint was 2-year major adverse cardiac events ( MACE ) rate, which included cardiac death, non-fatal myocardial infarction and ischemic symptoms driven target vessel revascularization. The safety endpoint was any bleeding as defined by the Bleeding Academic Research Consortium ( BARC ) definition. Results At 30 days, the reversion rate of HPR in group C was numerically higher as compared with group A ( 42. 9% vs. 23. 3. 0%, P=0. 068 ) , and similar with group B ( 42. 9% vs. 49. 3%, P=0.447). MACE occurred in 4 (13.3%), 5(6.7%) and 3(4.7%) patients in group A, B and C respictively ( P=0. 352). Bleeding events in group A and group C were both markedly lower in comparison to group B (3. 3% vs. 17. 3% vs. 1. 6%, P=0. 001). At the 24-month follow-up, the MACE-free survival rates were not significantly different (95. 3% vs. 93. 3% vs. 86. 7%, P=0. 146). Conclusions For elder patients with HPR, policosanol reduced platelet reactivity to a similar extent in comparison of high maintenance dose of clopidogrel without increasing bleeding risk.