Response to aspirin and clopidogrel monitored with different platelet function methods

Laboratory non-response to aspirin or clopidogrel is defined as an inability to cause in vitro detectable platelet function inhibition. It would be beneficial to monitor response to aspirin or clopidogrel with widely available and routinely used platelet function methods, like the platelet function analyzer (PFA-100 (R)) or the fully automated coagulation analyzer BCT (R). The aim of this study was to assess the potential of the coagulation analyzer BCT (R) and the platelet function analyzer PFA-100 (R) in monitoring the response of aspirin and clopidogrel. A group of 125 consecutive patients with arterial occlusive disease treated either with aspirin 100 mg/day (82 patients) or clopidogrel 75 mg/day (43 patients) as only antiplatelet drug were investigated. For the first time platelet-enriched plasma (PRP), not adjusted to a fixed predetermined concentration of platelets, was used for aggregation studies and the effect of clopidogrel alone without combination of aspirin treatment on platelet function was investigated. Response to aspirin was observed in 85% (70/82) of patients using PFA-100 (R), while performing the arachidonic acid-induced aggregation on the BCT showed an inhibitory effect to aspirin in 91% (75/82) of patients. Non-response to aspirin was assessed with both platelet function methods in 7% (6/82) of patients. Clopidogrel response was observed in 58% (25/43) of patients when performing ADP-induced aggregation on the BCT. On the PFA-100 (R) the antiplatelet effect of clopidogrel could not be detected. In conclusion, measurement of platelet aggregation on the BCT using native platelet-enriched plasma allows the quantification of individual inhibitory effects to aspirin as well as to clopidogrel, while the PFA-100 (R) seems only suitable to investigate the degree of platelet inhibition induced by aspirin but not by clopidogrel.