Sharjeel Abbas, Waseem Riaz, Ahmad Shahbaz, Saman Sarwar.
Anti-platelets regimen and patency of venous grafts in Diabetic Septuagenarians.
J Cardiovascular Dis Jan ;14(4):93-9.

BACKGROUND: Patency of venous graft to left anterior descending artery is of prime importance for healthy living of diabetic patients >70 years of age, maintained by antiplatelet or anticoagulant therapy. Whether Aspirin plus Clopidogrel therapy is better in certain situations than only Clopidogrel is not well established. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study was conducted at Outpatient Department of Punjab Institute of Cardiology Lahore Pakistan from March 2012 to Feburary 2018. All patients were known to have Type II diabetes mellitus, who under-went Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG). The age at operation was >=70 years. The patients were divided into two groups. Group A patients received Aspirin (75mg) and Clopidogrel (75mg); Group B patients were prescribed only Clopidogrel (75mg). At Completion of 2 years post CABG, CT coronary Angiography was done and Echo findings were noted and compared among both groups. RESULTS: A total of 51 patients were studied. Mean age was 73.14+-1.887 years and 27 were male. Out of these 51 patients, 33 were in Group A (Aspirin + Clopidogrel) and 18 were in Group B (only Clopidogrel). At 2 years follow up, more than moderate (>40%) stenosis of venous grafts was observed in 4 (12.1%) patients in group A and 2 (11.1%) in group B with no statistically significant difference. CONCLUSION: Both Aspirin+Clopidogrel and Clopidogrel-only antiplatelet regimens are equally effective in maintaining the patency of venous grafts in diabetic septuagenarian patients.

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