Pre-treatment with prasugrel - more risk, no benefit: ACCOAST

In patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE- ACS), pre-treatment with the P2Y12 antagonist prasugrel prior to catheterization, significantly increases the risk of life-threatening bleeding without reducing the risk of major ischemic events, according to the results of the ACCOAST (A Comparison of Prasugrel at PCI or Time of Diagnosis of Non-ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction) trial.

The findings point to a "paradigm shift" away from pre-treatment in such patients which will not only be "hard to believe and destabilizing for many cardiologists, but may also be difficult to implement since the routine use of pre-treatment has been anchored for so long," said the study's lead investigator Gilles Montalescot, from the ACTION study group at the Institut de Cardiologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Pitie-Salpetriere, in Paris, France.

Current ESC and ACCF/AHA guidelines recommend that pre-treatment with P2Y12 inhibitors should be added to aspirin as soon as possible before catheterization and maintained over 12 months, unless there are contraindications such as excessive risk of bleeding, explained Dr Montalescot.