Title
Aspirin 'resistance': role of pre-existent platelet reactivity and correlation between tests
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Pediatrics
Date
12-2008
Document Type
Article
Medical Subject Headings
Adult; Aspirin; Cyclooxygenase Inhibitors; *Drug Resistance; Female; Humans; Male; *Platelet Activation; Platelet Function Tests; Sensitivity and Specificity; Thromboxane A2; Young Adult
Disciplines
Hematology | Oncology | Pediatrics
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Aspirin 'resistance' is a widely used term for hyporesponsiveness to aspirin in a platelet function test. Serum thromboxane (TX) B(2) is the most specific test of aspirin's effect on platelets.
OBJECTIVES: (i) To examine the role of pre-existent platelet hyperreactivity in aspirin 'resistance'. (ii) To determine the correlation between aspirin resistance defined by serum TXB(2) and other assays of platelet function.
METHODS: To enable pre-aspirin samples to be drawn, platelet function was measured in normal subjects (n = 165) before and after aspirin 81 mg daily for seven days.
RESULTS: The proportion of the post-aspirin platelet function predicted by the pre-aspirin platelet function was 28.3 +/- 7.5% (mean +/- asymptotic standard error) for serum TXB(2), 39.3 +/- 6.8% for urinary 11-dehydro TXB(2), 4.4 +/- 7.7% for arachidonic acid-induced platelet aggregation, 40.4 +/- 7.1% for adenosine diphosphate-induced platelet aggregation, 26.3 +/- 9.2% for the VerifyNow Aspirin Assay, and 45.0 +/- 10.9% for the TEG PlateletMapping System with arachidonic acid. There was poor agreement between aspirin-resistant subjects identified by serum TXB(2) vs. aspirin-resistant subjects identified by the other five assays, irrespective of whether the analysis was based on categorical or continuous variables. Platelet count correlated with pre-aspirin serum TXB(2) and VerifyNow Aspirin Assay, but not with any post-aspirin platelet function test.
CONCLUSIONS: (i) Aspirin 'resistance' (i.e. hyporesponsiveness to aspirin in a laboratory test) is in part unrelated to aspirin but is the result of underlying platelet hyperreactivity prior to the institution of aspirin therapy. (ii) Aspirin resistance defined by serum TXB(2) shows a poor correlation with aspirin resistance defined by other commonly used assays.
Rights and Permissions
Citation: J Thromb Haemost. 2008 Dec;6(12):2035-44. Epub 2008 Oct 7. doi: 10.1111/j.1538-7836.2008.03184.x