ANTIPLATELET THERAPY AND RESISTANCE: A MINI REVIEW

Arterial thrombus formation are due to  mainly platelet activation and aggregation  which are considered to be central to pathological changes occurring in the vessel leading to the various complications and mortality . Antiplatelet drugs are used to prevent and help in the reversal of platelet aggregation in arterial thrombosis which was the major culprit in the pathology of myocardial infarction and ischaemic stroke. The most widely used antiplatelet agent namely Aspirin inhibits platelet cyclo-oxygenase which helps in conversion of arachidonic acid to platelet agonist thromboxane A2 but does not prevent platelet activation occurring via various signalling pathways that are independent of thromboxane A2 release. So apart from aspirin, a number of other compounds have been developed to overcome the deficiency by aspirin. Another major concern regarding the antiplatelet theraphy was the resistance by these drugs in preventing the troublesome complications. Bleeding is the most dreadful complication of most of the antiplatelet drugs. In general, in clinical practice, antiplatelet theraphy is instituted in patients whose thrombotic risk clearly overweighs their use of risk of bleeding manifestations. The development of newer antiplatelet drugs based on the understanding of their pharmacological mechanisms helps in the prevention of cardiovascular mortality with the least side effects.