Circulation Journal Official Journal of the Japanese Circulation Society http://www. j-circ.or.jp thrombi, and are activated when the vascular endothelium is damaged. Platelet activation can be triggered by many different agonists, including adenosine diphosphate, thromboxane A2, thrombin, etc. Adenosine diphosphate, as a P2Y12 receptor agonist, induces platelet degranulation and shape change, leading to amplification and stabilization of platelet aggregation. 8 The central role of the P2Y12 receptor in platelet activation has made it a key target of antiplatelet agents. Ticlopidine, a firstgeneration thienopyridine, was discovered in 1972 and introduced as an antiplatelet agent in 1978. Despite its excellent antiplatelet effect, ticlopidine has rare but potentially fatal side effects, including aplastic anemia, neutropenia and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, requiring routine hematological monitoring. 9 Clopidogrel is a second-generation thienopyridine lacking the serious hematological side effects of ticlopidine and was approved for use in 1997. Clopidogrel has quickly replaced ticlopidine because of its equivalent efficacy and superior safety profile. P2Y12 receptor blocker development led to prasugrel and ticagrelor, which overcome the limitations of clopidogrel, such as delayed onset of action and high interindividual variability of antiplatelet response. 10 Prasugrel is a third-generation thienopyridine with faster onset of action and less interindividual variability. It is more efficiently converted to an active metabolite than first-and second-generation thienopyridines. Thienopyridine derivatives exert their antiplatelet activity by irreversibly inhibiting the P2Y12 receptor. By contrast, ticagrelor is a new chemical class with faster onset of action and consistent platelet inhibition that does not require hepatic metabolism for its activity and causes reversible inhispirin prevents serious vascular events in patients at high risk of atherosclerosis. 1,2 The mechanism of aspirin's antiplatelet action was first described in 1971, 3 but it took a long time before aspirin's value was accepted in cardiovascular medicine. Early aspirin trials were mostly of questionable statistical significance. Moreover, the first large randomized trial, the Aspirin Myocardial Infarction Study (AMIS), showed that aspirin (1,000 mg/day) did not prevent cardiac death in patients who had already had a myocardial infarction (MI). 4 Adverse side effects, including peptic ulcer and gastrointestinal bleeding, were higher in the aspirin group than in the placebo group. Based on the AMIS results, aspirin was not routinely recommended for patients who had survived a MI. In the large, randomized International Study of Infarct Survival (ISIS)-2, however, aspirin (160 mg/day) demonstrated a dramatic 23% reduction in vascular mortality compared with placebo in patients with acute MI. 5 Thereafter, the use of aspirin in real-world clinical practice rapidly increased in advance of controlled studies, reflecting the ISIS-2 trial's stro...