Pretreatment of Antiplatelet Therapy in ACS Patients: When and How?

Abstract

Pre-treatment antiplatelet therapy describes a strategy regarding administration of antiplatelet drugs, commonly a P2Y12 receptor inhibitor is administered prior to coronary angiography and when the coronary anatomy is unknown. Pretreatment antiplatelet therapy has shown to be beneficial in improving the outcomes of ACS patients. In STEMI cases undergoing PCI, the patient should receive DAPT (a combination aspirin and P2Y12 inhibitor) for the antiplatelet pretreatment. For NSTEMI cases, it is not recommended to administer routine pre-treatment with P2Y12 receptor inhibitor in patients in whom coronary anatomy is not known and no invasive management is not planned.