Safety and efficacy of in-hospital clopidogrel-to-prasugrel switching in patients with acute coronary syndrome. An analysis from the 'real world'.

Antiplatelet switching in the management of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) seems to be safe, but prospective data are limited. This retrospective study assessed the safety and efficacy of in-hospital clopidogrel-to-prasugrel switching in patients with ACS. We analysed 525 consecutive patients with ACS admitted to our coronary care unit. We assessed the prevalence and the short-term outcomes of in-hospital clopidogrel-to-prasugrel switching. Bleeding and thrombotic events were assessed using propensity score matching analysis. A total of 468 patients received acetylsalicylic acid and a P2Y12 ADP receptor inhibitor. Medication switching occurred in 117 patients (25 %). Compared with the clopidogrel group, the switching group consisted preferentially of younger males with STEMI, exhibited fewer comorbidities, and had lower ischaemic risk. We found no differences between the switching group and the clopidogrel group in the bleeding rate [3.6 vs. 2.3 %, odds ratio (OR):1.59 95 % confidence interval (CI): 0.26-9.7, p NS], and in adverse cardiac or cerebrovascular events (MACCE) (5 vs. 8.4 %, OR: 0.57 95 % CI 0.16-2, p NS). In-hospital switching from clopidogrel to prasugrel in a selected high-risk ACS population resulted in a similar incidence of in-hospital haemorrhagic and thrombotic events. This strategy should be clarified in further randomised studies.

Clinical assessment of W-band spectroscopy for non-invasive detection and monitoring of sustained hyperglycemia.

HbA1c is the gold standard test for monitoring medium/long term glycemia conditions in diabetes care, which is a critical factor in reducing the risk of chronic diabetes complications. Current technologies for measuring HbA1c concentration are invasive and adequate assays are still limited to laboratory-based methods that are not widely available worldwide. The development of a non-invasive diagnostic tool for HbA1c concentration can lead to the decrease of the rate of undiagnosed cases and facilitate early detection in diabetes care. We present a preliminary validation diagnostic study of W-band spectroscopy for detection and monitoring of sustained hyperglycemia, using the HbA1c concentration as reference. A group of 20 patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and 10 healthy subjects were non-invasively assessed at three different visits over a period of 7 months by a millimeter-wave spectrometer (transmission mode) operating across the full W-band. The relationship between the W-band spectral profile and the HbA1c concentration is studied using longitudinal and non-longitudinal functional data analysis methods. A potential blind discrimination between patients with or without diabetes is obtained, and more importantly, an excellent relation (R-squared = 0.97) between the non-invasive assessment and the HbA1c measure is achieved. Such results support that W-band spectroscopy has great potential for developing a non-invasive diagnostic tool for in-vivo HbA1c concentration monitoring in humans.