Bleeding risk and outcomes of Bivalirudin versus Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors with targeted low-dose unfractionated Heparin in patients having percutaneous coronary intervention for either stable or unstable angina pectoris

For patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), procedural anticoagulation with bivalirudin was previously shown to significantly reduce bleeding complications at the cost of a modest increase in ischemic events compared with unfractionated heparin (UFH) and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPIs). However, the excess bleeding in patients treated with UFH and GPIs may have been caused by excessively high UFH doses and increased activated clotting times. This study sought to determine the bleeding risk of targeted low-dose UFH with GPIs compared with bivalirudin in patients undergoing elective PCI. Of 1,205 patients undergoing elective PCI, 602 underwent PCI with adjunctive UFH and GPIs with the UFH dose targeted to an activated clotting time of approximately 250 seconds, and 603 patients matched for baseline characteristics underwent PCI with bivalirudin. Outcomes were analyzed for major bleeding (hematocrit decrease >15%, gastrointestinal bleed, or major hematoma) and 6-month major adverse cardiac events (death, myocardial infarction, and target-lesion revascularization). The maximum activated clotting time achieved was 261.7 +/- 61.6 seconds in the UFH/GPI group and 355.4 +/- 66.6 in the bivalirudin group (p <0.001). In-hospital major bleeding rates were similar between groups (1.8% UFH/GPI vs 1.7% bivalirudin; p = 0.83), as were transfusion requirements (1.2% UFH/GPI vs 0.5% bivalirudin; p = 0.61). The 6-month major adverse cardiac event rate was also similar between groups (9.5% UFH/GPI vs 9.0% bivalirudin; p = 0.81). In conclusion, there were no significant differences in major bleeding and 6-month major adverse cardiac events for patients undergoing elective PCI treated with targeted low-dose UFH and GPIs compared with those treated with bivalirudin.