Journal of Clinical Medicine Review Antithrombotic Therapy in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease and Prior Stroke Elisa Bellettini and Leonardo De Luca * Department of Cardiosciences, U.O.C. of Cardiology, Azienda Ospedaliera San Camillo-Forlanini, 00152 Roma, Italy;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
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[email protected]; Tel.: +39-06-58704419; Fax: +39-06-5870-4361 Abstract: Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and prior cerebrovascular events (CVE) are frequently faced in clinical practice and present a high rate of both ischemic and bleeding events. For these reasons, the antithrombotic management is particularly challenging in this subgroup of patients. Recent trials suggest that, although a potent antiplatelet strategy is safe in the acute phases of myocardial ischemia for these patients, the risk of major bleeding complications, including intracranial hemorrhage, is extremely high when the antithrombotic therapy is prolonged for a long period of time. Therefore, especially in patients with chronic CAD and history of CVE, the antithrombotic management should be carefully balanced between ischemic and bleeding risks. The present review is aimed at critically evaluating the available evidence to help make these crucial clinical decisions regarding the better antithrombotic therapy to use in this high-risk subgroup Citation: Bellettini, E.; De Luca, L. of patients. Antithrombotic Therapy in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease and Prior Stroke. J. Clin. Med. 2021, 10, Keywords: antithrombotic therapy; clopidogrel; ticagrelor; prasugrel; aspirin; rivaroxaban; acute 1923. https://doi.org/10.3390/ coronary syndromes; prior stroke jcm10091923 Academic Editors: Wolfgang Dichtl and Andrzej Surdacki 1. Introduction Patients with ischemic stroke present a 4-fold increased risk for coronary artery disease Received: 28 February 2021 (CAD) compared to patients without cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) [1].