RESUMO
BACKGROUND: In worldwide, the mortality rate of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) raises year by year. Although the applications of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and anticoagulants effectively reduce the mortality of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), but also increase the incidence of bleeding. Therefore, drugs with stable anticoagulant effects are urgently required. METHODS: We enrolled 894 patients with acute coronary syndrome who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention in Shenyang Northern Hospital from February 2010 to May 2012; 430 patients were included in the fondaparinux group (2.5 mg/d), and 464 were included in the enoxaparin group (1 mg/kg twice daily). Fondaparinux and enoxaparin were applied for 3-7 days. All patients were treated with tirofiban (10 µg/kg for 3 min initially and 0.15 µg/(kg · min) for 1 to 3 days thereafter). The primary efficacy endpoint was the incidence of a major adverse cerebrovascular or cardiovascular event. The primary safety endpoint was bleeding within 30 days and 1 year after percutaneous coronary intervention. RESULTS: One-year data were available for 422 patients in the fondaparinux group and for 453 in the enoxaparin group. The incidence of a major adverse cerebrovascular or cardiovascular event (10.9 % vs 12.6 %, P = 0.433) and cardiac mortality (0.5 % vs 1.5 %, P = 0.116) were generally lower in the fondaparinux group than in the enoxaparin group, although the differences were not significant. Compared with the enoxaparin group, the fondaparinux group had a significantly decreased rate of bleeding at 30 days (0.9 % vs 2.8 %) and 1 year (2.4 % vs 5.4 %). In addition, the rate of major bleeding events was lower in the fondaparinux group, but this difference was not significant (0.2 % vs 0.9 %, 0.2 % vs 1.1 %). CONCLUSIONS: In tirofiban-treated patients with acute coronary syndrome undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, fondaparinux presented similar efficacy for ischemia events as enoxaparin. However, fondaparinux significantly decreased the incidence of bleeding, thus providing safer anticoagulation therapy.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Tumor necrosis factor-α is a key mediator in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Infliximab is a monoclonal antibody that specifically binds to tumor necrosis factor-α. The purpose of this study was to validate the efficacy and safety of 5 mg/kg infliximab therapy in Chinese patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. METHODS: In this multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 129 patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis were randomized to the induction therapy (weeks 0, 2 and 6) with infliximab 5 mg/kg (n = 84) or placebo (n = 45), followed with infliximab 5 mg/kg scheduled at week 14 and week 22 in the infliximab group, and infliximab 5 mg/kg scheduled at weeks 10, 12 and 16 in the placebo group. The primary end point was the proportion of patients who achieved at least 75% improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI 75 response rate) from baseline at week 10. RESULTS: At week 10, 81.0% of patients treated with infliximab (5 mg/kg) achieved a 75% or greater improvement compared with 2.2% of patients treated with placebo (P < 0.001). A significant improvement in PASI, Physician's Global Assessment (PGA) and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), was seen from week 6 through week 14 in the infliximab group compared with the placebo group. Through week 22, PASI, PGA, DLQI were well maintained. The incidence of adverse events for the infliximab treatment group was slightly higher in comparison to the placebo treatment group during the first 10 weeks without statistical significance. However, there were 3 cases of tuberculosis that developed during the 26 weeks treatment with infliximal. CONCLUSIONS: Infliximab treatment was effective as induction and maintenance treatments for Chinese patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Most drug-induced adverse events were mild to moderate, and well tolerated. Screening for tuberculosis is essential and prophylactic treatment should be given if necessary.