Antiplatelet Therapy and Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: Analysis of Current Evidence With a Focus on Acute Coronary Syndrome

This review was undertaken to summarize and discuss the current evidence around antiplatelet therapy and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Aspirin (ASA) monotherapy remains the standard of care among patients before and after CABG. The role of more intense antiplatelet therapy—specifically, P2Y12 inhibitors—in improving clinical outcomes and graft patency is becoming increasingly apparent. As such, we provide an overview of a variety of antiplatelet regimens. The review discusses the evidence around preoperative management of antiplatelet therapies, with a particular focus on timing of cessation. It also evaluates the current literature to elucidate the best antiplatelet therapy regimen after CABG, focusing on acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Whenever possible, data are presented from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses. Although guidelines recommend use of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after CABG for patients with ACS, available evidence is limited to small RCTs, and meta-analyses are of substudies of larger RCTs. There is also considerable heterogeneity in patient population of these studies; a significant number of patients underwent off-pump CABG (OPCAB) in trials that demonstrate graft-patency benefit with DAPT. With this limited evidence, DAPT remains underused in the CABG population, even among patients presenting after ACS.