Efficacy and Safety of Abciximab in Diabetic Patients Who Underwent Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Thienopyridines Loading: A Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: It has been controversial whether abciximab offered additional benefits for diabetic patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with thienopyridines loading. METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane library clinical trials registry, ISI Science Citation Index, ISI Web of Knowledge and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were searched, supplemented with manual-screening for relevant publications. Quantitative meta-analyses were performed to assess differences between abciximab groups and controls with respect to post-PCI risk of major cardiac events (MACEs), angiographic restenosis and bleeding complications. RESULTS: 9 trials were identified, involving 2,607 diabetic patients receiving PCI for coronary artery diseases. Among those patients who underwent elective PCI or primary PCI, pooling results showed that abciximab did not significantly reduce risks of MACEs (for elective-PCI patients: RR(1-month): 0.93, 95% CI: 0.60–1.44; RR(1-year): 0.95, 95% CI: 0.81–1.11; for primary-PCI patients: RR(1-month): 1.05, 95% CI: 0.70–1.57; RR(1-year): 0.98, 95% CI: 0.80–1.21), nor all-cause mortality, re-infarction and angiographic restenosis in either group. The only beneficial effect by abciximab appeared to be a decrease 1-year TLR (target lesion revascularization) risk in elective-PCI patients (RR1-year: 0.83, 95% CI: 0.70–0.99). Moreover, occurrence of minor bleeding complications increased in elective-PCI patients treated with abciximab (RR: 2.94, 95% CI: 1.68–5.13, P<0.001), whereas major bleedings rate was similar (RR: 0.83, 95% CI: 0.27–2.57). CONCLUSIONS: Concomitant dosing of abciximab and thienopyridines provides no additional benefit among diabetic patients who underwent PCI; this conclusion, though, needs further confirmation in larger studies.