Now there are more and more patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and many patients are taking aspirin, clopidogrel, which is an anti-platelet aggregation drug, which is colloquially speaking, an anti-thrombotic drug. Yes, this class of drugs is indeed the basic drug for the treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. When it comes to taking drugs, you will take into account the side effects of drugs, such as this type of anti-thrombotic drugs, one of the most serious side effects of which is the possibility of causing bleeding. Gastrointestinal bleeding is not uncommon clinically, especially in patients taking aspirin. In fact, in contrast, clopidogrel causes a smaller risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. So, the real question is, can we replace aspirin with clopidogrel? Let's take a look and compare.
Let's start with aspirin. Aspirin is an old medicine, which has been clinically used for more than 100 years, and has been used for the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases for decades, and can be said to be the most classic drug. Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid, is an acidic substance, in addition to having an antithrombotic effect, it has a certain direct stimulating effect on the stomach. We are now used to treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, the most commonly used dose is 100 mg, that is, a small dose of aspirin, but also relatively better, the previous use of aspirin effect is more common is antipyretic, anti-rheumatic, the dose is relatively large, so in the past there were more gastrointestinal bleeding. It is for the sake of gastrointestinal stimulation of this side effect of consideration, now most of the aspirin is made of enteric-coated aspirin, that is to say, he decomposes less in the stomach, most of it is decomposed in the intestine, there are some better process of enteric-coated aspirin, decomposed in the stomach is almost 0, so that the risk of gastric bleeding is greatly reduced.
Let's talk about clopidogrel. The history of clopidogrel use is naturally much shorter than that of aspirin. It is also an anti-platelet aggregation, anti-thrombotic drug, except that it is not the same as that of aspirin. As far as the side effect of gastrointestinal bleeding is concerned, it is indeed less than aspirin, and it has less stimulation of the stomach. After so many years of clinical application and research, the effect or efficacy of clopidogrel, although the effect is good, but it will not be better than aspirin, it is still a supplement to antiplatelet therapy.
In summary, aspirin and clopidogrel are both anti-platelet aggregation drugs, and many are used in patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In general, aspirin is preferred for treatment, and some patients cannot tolerate aspirin, such as allergies, bleeding, etc., clopidogrel can be used as a second choice. Some patients, such as patients with acute myocardial infarction, coronary stents, and post-coronary bypass surgery, even need to use these two antiplatelet aggregation drugs at the same time to enhance efficacy.
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