European heart journal
-
European heart journal · Mar 2004
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyAssociation between the low activity genotype of catechol-O-methyltransferase and myocardial infarction in a hypertensive population.
Estrogens regulate several biological processes involved in the pathogenesis of myocardial infarction. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is a key enzyme in the degradation of estrogens. There is a functional polymorphism in the COMT gene (Val158Met), affecting the activity of the enzyme. We investigated if the low activity genotype of COMT is associated with an altered risk of myocardial infarction. ⋯ Our findings suggest that the low activity COMT genotype is protective against myocardial infarction. One may speculate that the altered estrogen status could be involved in this effect.
-
European heart journal · Mar 2004
Limited early antiplatelet effect of 300 mg clopidogrel in patients with aspirin therapy undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions.
Our aim was to evaluate the early efficacy and variability of the platelet inhibition exerted by 300 mg clopidogrel for the purpose of acute percutaneous coronary interventions using platelet function tests. ⋯ Neither ongoing aspirin treatment nor added clopidogrel did reach an expected extent of platelet inhibition. This study shows that aspirin-treated patients undergoing PCI gain highly variable levels of platelet inhibition with short-term clopidogrel 300 mg. At 2 h after adding clopidogrel it failed to enhance platelet inhibition in 40% of the patients. In future, targeted platelet function tests may be helpful to individually select an effective antiplatelet medication for these patients. This study suggests that for acute PTCA clopidogrel does not reach the optimal antithrombotic efficacy in all patients.