Duration of Dual Antiplatelet Therapy After Drug-Eluting Stent Implantation in Patients With and Without Acute Coronary Syndrome

In this systemic review we evaluated the efficacy and safety of long duration dual anti-platelet therapy (DAPT) (L-DAPT) compared with short duration DAPT (S-DAPT) after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation in patients who presented with or without acute coronary syndromes (ACS). We identified 8 randomized controlled trials in which 30,975 patients were randomized to S-DAPT versus L-DAPT (12,421 ACS and 18,554 non-ACS). Short duration dual anti-platelet therapy was associated with an increase in target vessel revascularization (TVR) in ACS patients, but the difference was not significant for non-ACS patients (odds ratio [OR] 5.04 [95% CI, 1.28-19.76], and OR, 0.89 [95% CI, 0.51-1.55], respectively). The risk of cardiac mortality was not significantly different with S-DAPT and L-DAPT for ACS (OR, 1.69 [95% CI, 0.82-3.50]) and non-ACS patients (OR, 0.89 [95% CI, 0.57-1.37]). For all cause mortality, myocardial infarction, and stent thrombosis, most of the events were derived from the DAPT study, thus a meta-analysis was not performed for these end points. Based on our review of the literature, we conclude that S-DAPT was associated with higher rates of stent thrombosis and myocardial infarction, and non-significant differences in all-cause mortality, with no significant interactions according to ACS vs non-ACS. However, in non-ACS patients, the benefit-risk profile favored S-DAPT, with lower all-cause mortality, whereas the trends were reversed in ACS. Additional studies are required to determine if the benefit-risk profile of S-DAPT vs L-DAPT varies according to clinical syndrome.