Short-term Safety and Mid-term Efficacy of Prasugrel Versus Clopidogrel in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

OBJECTIVE: Although several clinical trials have shown that the mid- and long-term safety and efficacy of prasugrel are better than those of clopidogrel after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), there are few data regarding the short-term safety. METHODS: In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the short-term (72 hours) PCI-related bleeding complications and mid-term (12 months) efficacy in 250 consecutive coronary artery disease patients who underwent PCI and received aspirin plus prasugrel (prasugrel group; 67.7±10.0 years, 200 men). PATIENTS: The comparison group consisted of 250 age- and gender-matched patients who received aspirin plus clopidogrel (clopidogrel group: 67.2±11.2 years, 199 men). RESULTS: The incidence of a composite of PCI-related bleeding complications in the acute phase post-PCI was significantly higher in the prasugrel group than in the clopidogrel group (22.4% vs. 13.2%, p=0.007), although the incidence of non-PCI-related bleeding complications over 12 months was comparable between the 2 groups. The cumulative incidence of major cardiovascular events (MACEs) was comparable between the prasugrel and clopidogrel groups (log-rank test; p=0.561). A multivariate logistic regression analysis of the 250 prasugrel-treated patients showed that acute coronary syndrome tended to be negatively associated with the incidence of PCI-related bleeding complications (p=0.061). CONCLUSION: Prasugrel and clopidogrel may have similar efficacy for preventing cardiovascular events as the post-PCI antiplatelet regimen; however, prasugrel should be used cautiously because of the risk of PCI-related bleeding complications.