Disclaimer. The ESC Guidelines represent the views of the ESC and were produced after careful consideration of the scientific and medical knowledge, and the evidence available at the time of their publication. The ESC is not responsible in the event of any contradiction, discrepancy, and/or ambiguity between the ESC Guidelines and any other official recommendations or guidelines issued by the relevant public health authorities, in particular in relation to good use of healthcare or therapeutic strategies. Health professionals are encouraged to take the ESC Guidelines fully into account when exercising their clinical judgment, as well as in the determination and the implementation of preventive, diagnostic, or therapeutic medical strategies; however, the ESC Guidelines do not override, in any way whatsoever, the individual responsibility of health professionals to make appropriate and accurate decisions in consideration of each patient's health condition and in consultation with that patient and, where appropriate and/or necessary, the patient's caregiver. Nor do the ESC Guidelines exempt health professionals from taking into full and careful consideration the relevant official updated recommendations or guidelines issued by the competent public health authorities, in order to manage each patient's case in light of the scientifically accepted data pursuant to their respective ethical and professional obligations. It is also the health professional's responsibility to verify the applicable rules and regulations relating to drugs and medical devices at the time of prescription.

The content of these European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines has been published for personal and educational use only. No commercial use is authorized. No part of the ESC Guidelines may be translated or reproduced in any form without written permission from the ESC. Permission can be obtained upon submission of a written request to Oxford University Press, the publisher of the European Heart Journal and the party authorized to handle such permissions on behalf of the ESC. Disclaimer:The ESC Guidelines represent the views of the ESC and were produced after careful consideration of the scientific and medical knowledge and the evidence available at the time of their publication. The ESC is not responsible in the event of any contradiction, discrepancy and/or ambiguity between the ESC Guidelines and any other official recommendations or guidelines issued by the relevant public health authorities, in particular in relation to good use of healthcare or therapeutic strategies. Health professionals are encouraged to take the ESC Guidelines fully into account when exercising their clinical judgment, as well as in the determination and the implementation of preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic medical strategies; however, the ESC Guidelines do not override, in any way whatsoever, the individual responsibility of health professionals to make appropriate and accurate decisions in consideration of each patient's health condition and in consultation with that patient and, where appropriate and/or necessary, the patient's caregiver. Nor do the ESC Guidelines exempt health professionals from taking into full and careful consideration the relevant official updated recommendations or guidelines issued by the competent public health authorities, in order to manage each patient's case in light of the scientifically accepted data pursuant to their respective ethical and professional obligations. It is also the health professional's responsibility to verify the applicable rules and regulations relating to drugs and medical devices at the time of prescription.

ОБОРОТ ТРОМБОЦИТОВ И АТЕРОТРОМБОЗ А.В. МАЗУРОВ, д.м.н., профессор, Научный медицинский исследовательский центр кардиологии Минздрава России, Москва КЛЮЧЕВЫЕ СЛОВА: тромбоциты, атеротромбоз, ретикулярные тромбоциты, средний объем тромбоцитов, агрегация тромбоцитов, мегакариоциты, тромбоцитопоэз Тромбоциты играют ведущую роль в инициации атеротромбоза-образования внутрисо-судистых тромбов в участках атеросклеротическом повреждении сосудов. Функциональ-ная (протромботическая) активность тромбоцитов существенным образом варьирует как у здоровых лиц, так и у пациентов с сердечно-сосудистыми заболеваниями. Одной из причин повышения активности тромбоцитов может быть ускорение их продукции и оборота. При стимуляции тромбоцитопоэза в кровотоке появляются крупные и ретику-лярные (с повышенным количеством РНК) «молодые» тромбоциты. Эти тромбоциты со-держат больше адгезивных рецепторов, больше секреторных гранул и обладают повы-шенной способностью к агрегации. В обзоре приводятся данные, указывающие на то, что крупные и ретикулярные тромбоциты являются не только маркерами, но и предик-торами атеротромботических событий, и в первую очередь острого коронарного синдро-ма. Увеличение количества таких тромбоцитов у больных, получающих антитромбоци-тарные препараты, ассоциировано со снижением эффективности их антиагрегантного действия. Предполагается, что появление крупных и ретикулярных тромбоцитов в кро-ви больных с атеросклерозом и атеротромбозом может быть следствием повышения тромбопоэтической активности мегакариоцитов при этих патологических состояниях. Platelets play an important role in initiating atherothrombosis, i.e. the formation of blood clots inside a blood vessel at areas of atherosclerotic vascular injury. The functional (prothrombotic) activity of platelets significantly varies both in healthy individuals and in patients with cardiovascular diseases. The increased platelet production and turnover may be one of the reasons for promoting platelet activity. Stimulating thrombo-cytopoiesis results in large and reticular (with an increased amount of RNA) "young" platelets in the bloodstream. These platelets contain more adhesive receptors, more secretory granules and have an increased aggregation capacity. The review provides data indicating that large and reticular platelets are not only markers, but also predictors of atherothrombotic events, and primarily of acute coronary syndrome. An increase in such platelet count in patients receiving antiplatelet drugs is associated with a decrease in effectiveness of their antiplatelet action. It is assumed that the appearance of large and reticular platelets in the blood of patients with atherosclerosis and atherothrombosis may be a consequence of an increase in the thrombopoietic activity of megakaryocytes in these pathological conditions.

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SummaryBackgroundLow-dose aspirin is of definite and substantial net benefit for many people who already have occlusive vascular disease. We have assessed the benefits and risks in primary prevention.MethodsWe undertook meta-analyses of serious vascular events (myocardial infarction, stroke, or vascular death) and major bleeds in six primary prevention trials (95 000 individuals at low average risk, 660 000 person-years, 3554 serious vascular events) and 16 secondary prevention trials (17 000 individuals at high average risk, 43 000 person-years, 3306 serious vascular events) that compared long-term aspirin versus control. We report intention-to-treat analyses of first events during the scheduled treatment period.FindingsIn the primary prevention trials, aspirin allocation yielded a 12% proportional reduction in serious vascular events (0·51% aspirin vs 0·57% control per year, p=0·0001), due mainly to a reduction of about a fifth in non-fatal myocardial infarction (0·18% vs 0·23% per year, p<0·0001). The net effect on stroke was not significant (0·20% vs 0·21% per year, p=0·4: haemorrhagic stroke 0·04% vs 0·03%, p=0·05; other stroke 0·16% vs 0·18% per year, p=0·08). Vascular mortality did not differ significantly (0·19% vs 0·19% per year, p=0·7). Aspirin allocation increased major gastrointestinal and extracranial bleeds (0·10% vs 0·07% per year, p<0·0001), and the main risk factors for coronary disease were also risk factors for bleeding. In the secondary prevention trials, aspirin allocation yielded a greater absolute reduction in serious vascular events (6·7% vs 8·2% per year, p<0.0001), with a non-significant increase in haemorrhagic stroke but reductions of about a fifth in total stroke (2·08% vs 2·54% per year, p=0·002) and in coronary events (4·3% vs 5·3% per year, p<0·0001). In both primary and secondary prevention trials, the proportional reductions in the aggregate of all serious vascular events seemed similar for men and women.InterpretationIn primary prevention without previous disease, aspirin is of uncertain net value as the reduction in occlusive events needs to be weighed against any increase in major bleeds. Further trials are in progress.FundingUK Medical Research Council, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, and the European Community Biomed Programme.