Emory
Cardiologists Using New Test To Determine If Aspirin Is Working To
Prevent Heart Attack And Stroke
ATLANTA -- More
than 20 million Americans take aspirin each day to prevent blood clots
and reduce their risk of initial and recurrent heart attacks, strokes
and other vascular events However, published data in the medical literature
indicate that aspirin therapy may not work in about three out of ten
people.
Now physicians at the Emory
Heart Center have a new tool to identify patients who are not getting
the benefit of aspirin therapy --- the Ultegraâ [cq] Rapid Platelet
Function Assay - ASA (known as RPFA-ASA).
"This test identifies people
who have an insufficient response to aspirin. Since we know aspirin
therapy can be lifesaving in heart attack, and that it may help prevent
some forms of coronary disease, it is important to identify individuals
who need the effect but are not getting it. Those people may need alternative
forms of therapy," says Emory Heart Center cardiologist Peter Block,
M.D.
Aspirin has long been prescribed
to help prevent stroke and heart attacks because it interrupts the chain
of events that cause blood cells called platelets to stick together
and form clots. "However, we've learned that aspirin does not have the
desired effect in some people," Dr. Block explains. "There appears to
be an inability of aspirin to affect the platelet receptors in some
people. This may be a genetic variant."
Developed by Accumetrics
and recently approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), RPFA-ASA
uses a computer-based analyzer to test a small blood sample. The results,
which only take about ten minutes, reveal whether aspirin's anti platelet
action is working in patients taking the medication..
"When people are shown to
not be getting the full effects of aspirin, we can try a higher dose
of aspirin or other alternate anti-coagulants," says Dr. Block. "There
are still many questions that need to be answered through research about
these issues. In the meantime, the RPFA-ASA is an important step forward
in individualizing optimal therapy to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular
disease in our patients."
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