Bivalirudin May Reduce Need to Use IIb/IIIa Agents in ACS

The “most important” implication from this analysis is that both strategies for administering a IIb/IIIa inhibitor were inferior to the net clinical outcome of bivalirudin alone, which had a composite event rate of 10.1% for major bleeds and ischemic events, Dr. Stone concluded.

“One thing that bivalirudin has done consistently [in prior studies] is reduce the rate of bleeding complications, so the difference in bleeding here is not surprising,” said Dr. Kirk Garratt, director of interventional cardiovascular research at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.