P2Y12 pre-treatment for NSTE-ACS in a tertiary hospital centre: real world compliance experience with ESC 2020 guidelines

Type of funding sources: None.

The 2020 ESC guidelines for managing NSTE-ACS recommend against routine pre-treatment with a P2Y12 receptor inhibitor if coronary anatomy is not known and an early (<24h) invasive management is planned. With delayed (>24h) invasive management, pre-treatment may be considered in selected cases.

Evaluate antiplatelet pre-treatment practices for NSTE-ACS in a tertiary cardiology centre in Australia.

Retrospective analysis of NSTE-ACS cases from January to August 2021 were obtained from the cardiac laboratory database. Patients on a P2Y12 inhibitor prior to presentation were excluded. Clinical, demographic, angiographic and medication data were obtained from the electronic database.

85 cases were included. Mean age was 62 ± 11.5 and 81% were male. The prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, type 2 diabetes and active smoking was 54.8%, 51.2%, 38.1% and 34.5% respectively. Mean time to angiography was 1.7 ± 1.4 days and the median peak pre-procedural troponin T was 191.5 (80 to 852). Access was predominantly radial (84.5%) with the remainder femoral (15.5%).

Angiographic findings included, obstructive disease amenable to percutaneous coronary intervention (50.0%), obstructive disease for surgical revascularisation (22.6%), and non-obstructive disease (27.4%). The mean time from angiography to surgical revascularisation was 6.4 ± 4.4 days. Three patients (3.6%) had bleeding [managed conservatively], specifically upper limb haematoma, groin haematoma, and haemoptysis.

The majority of patients (79.8%) received P2Y12 inhibitors (40.5% clopidogrel and 39.3% ticagrelor) prior to angiography. Of these, 49.3% had percutaneous angioplasty, 17.9% had surgical revascularisation and 32.8% had non-obstructive disease (managed with single antithrombotic agent). Of those who did not receive P2Y12 inhibitors [n = 17, 20.2%]. Of these, 53% had percutaneous angioplasty, 40% had surgical revascularisation, and 5% had non-obstructive disease.

Overall, pre-treatment with a P2Y12 inhibitor was still very common, risking delays to bypass surgery and increasing bleeding. Practice did not generally align with contemporary ESC 2020 guidelines. Understanding the reasons for guideline non-compliance would be important for optimising treatments. Education for emergency and cardiology staff as well as creation of local practice policies may help increase compliance with evidence-based guidelines.