Is aspirin still the drug of choice for management of patients with peripheral arterial disease?

In conclusion, antiplatelet drugs are effective in prevention of cardiovascular events in different atherosclerotic diseases, including PAD. However, recent studies indicated that in PAD patients aspirin is less effective than in coronary artery disease. New anti-platelet drugs showed marginal superiority over aspirin without definite advantages. Aspirin thus remains the first line of antiplatelet drug for secondary prevention of cardiovascular events in PAD patients and clopidogrel as its effective alternative. Further, new studies on PAD patients are necessary to better define the role of anti-platelet agents in these patients and one of the promising ways of access to anti-platelet treatment would be personalized anti-platelet therapy. PMID: 23485835 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Source: VASA. Zeitschrift fur Gefasskrankheiten. Journal for Vascular Diseases - Category: Surgery Authors: Tags: Vasa Source Type: research