De-escalation of antiplatelets after percutaneous coronary intervention: a Bayesian network meta-analysis of various de-escalation strategies

Aims: To compare early de-escalation of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) (1-3 months) to monotherapy with either P2Y12 inhibitor or aspirin vs. 12 months DAPT after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stent (DES).

Methods and results: Electronic databases of Medline, Embase, and Cochrane library were searched through February 2020 to identify randomized controlled trials. A Bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted with random effects model. The main endpoints of interest were cardiovascular mortality and total bleeding events. Among seven trials (35 821 patients), 52.6% patients were presented with acute coronary syndrome. A total of 3359 patients and 14 530 patients were de-escalated to aspirin and P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy, respectively. At a median follow-up of 12 months, compared with 12 months of DAPT, there was no significant difference in cardiovascular mortality between 1-month DAPT followed by P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy [hazard ratio (HR) 0.84 (95% credible interval 0.29-2.43)], 3 months of DAPT followed by P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy [HR 0.74 (0.39-1.46)], or 3 months of DAPT [HR 1.00 (0.54-1.86)] followed by aspirin monotherapy. Except for de-escalation of DAPT to aspirin monotherapy after 3 months [HR 0.75 (0.43-1.20)], de-escalation to P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy after 1 month [HR 0.28 (0.10-0.83)], or 3 months [HR 0.57 (0.33-0.98)] were associated with significant decrease in total bleeding events. There were no significant differences in terms of ischaemic endpoints among different DAPT strategies.

Conclusion: Early de-escalation of DAPT (1-3 months) to monotherapy with a P2Y12 inhibitor instead of aspirin might be a safer and equally effective approach compared with 12 months of DAPT in patients with PCI and DES.