COMPARISON OF ASPIRIN WITH A THROMBOXANE ANTAGONIST FOR PATIENTS WITHPROLONGED CHEST PAIN AND ST SEGMENT DEPRESSION

Aim. To compare a thromboxane anatagonist (GR3219) with aspirin in pat ients with prolonged chest pain and ST segment depression to see if th e frequency of attacks of chest pain was reduced. Methods. The trial w as part of a study comparing GR3219 with aspirin, and streptokinase wi th placebo and comprised the GR3219/aspirin leg. Thirty one patients w ere randomly assigned to GR3219 80 mg twice daily and 28 to aspirin 30 0 mg daily. The patients were under the age of 76 and admitted to a co ronary care unit within 6 hours of continuous chest pain. The ECG show ed at least 1 mm of flat or downgoing ST segment. The patients kept di aries of their pain over the subsequent 31 days. Results. Seventy perc ent of patients developed further chest pain, There was no difference between the pattern of recurrent chest pain according to which drug wa s used. Conclusions. The hypothesis that specific thromboxane A blocka de with GR3219 would be more efficacious than aspirin was not supporte d by these results.