Assessing Platelet Function in Clinical Trials

Since the 1970s, the role of antiplatelet therapy in patients with coronary artery disease has become established. Aspirin was the first drug to be used as an antiaggregant. Although early trials of aspirin lacked adequate statistical power to detect clinical benefits, two metaanalyses by the antiplatelet trialist group established the place of aspirin in the management of coronary artery disease and provided significant insight into the lack of a documented dose-response effect (1,2). Although the administration of aspirin to suitable patients still lags behind desired targets, most surveys indicate that more than 90% of appropriate patients are treated with it at the time of hospital discharge.