Trial of repeated low-dose aspirin in diabetic angiopathy
G DiMinno, MJ Silver, AM Cerbone and S Murphy
We compared the ability of aspirin to suppress platelet aggregation and
thromboxane synthesis in ten normal subjects and ten patients with diabetic
angiopathy and high rate of entry of new platelets into the circulation.
When single doses of 100 to 1,000 mg aspirin were ingested daily for 1
month, there were time gaps between doses in which platelets from diabetics
and normals aggregated and formed thromboxane ex vivo in response to the
combination of arachidonic acid plus collagen. Similar gaps were also found
for diabetics, but not for normals, following four daily doses (every six
hours) of 25 or 100 mg. Our data show that dose schedules of aspirin which
may suffice in normals are not effective in patients with diabetic
angiopathy, presumably because these patients have a high rate of entry of
new platelets into the circulation. We suggest that continual suppression
of platelet thromboxane synthesis and aggregation by low-dose, "slow-
release" preparations of aspirin would be an ideal long-term approach for
the prevention of thrombosis in patients with a high rate of entry of new
platelets into the circulation.
Volume 68,
Issue 4,
pp. 886-891,
10/01/1986
Copyright © 1986 by The American Society of Hematology
