Point of Care Testing of Aspirin Resistance in Patients With Vascular Disease

Abstract

A significant proportion of patients taking aspirin do not show laboratory evidence of platelet inhibition and may not be protected from atherothrombotic events. The PFA-100 appears to be a useful tool to screen for both aspirin resistance and excessive aspirin mediated platelet inhibition.

Review of aspirin and clopidogrel resistance in peripheral arterial disease

“…12 Several other PAD studies reported AR prevalence ranging from 9.6% to 27% to 60%. 16,31,32 A 2011 study involving a substudy of 258 PAD patients taking aspirin revealed that 17% had, during 3-month follow-up, consistently demonstrated low response to aspirin when analyzed by platelet function analyzer (PFA). Less than 1% of patients in this study were found to have low aspirin response during 3 months of followup when analyzed with multiple electrode aggregometry and light transmission aggregometry.…”

The surgical application of point-of-care haemostasis and platelet function testing

“…Limitations of the PFA‐100 ® include the potential overestimation of the prevalence of aspirin resistance96–100. Wide variability in duplicate testing has also been noted and may exceed 10 per cent101.…”