Is Plavix Safe for Me?
This question has been asked by many visitors to the Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute website since the article Cleveland Clinic-led international study looking at Plavix and Aspirin was published in the April 2006 New England Journal of Medicine*. CHARISMA (Clopidogrel for High Atherothrombotic Risk and Ischemic Stabilization, Management, and Avoidance) was a prospective, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study of the safety and efficacy of clopidogrel plus aspirin compared to aspirin alone in stable patients at high risk for a cardiovascular event. The study concluded that long-term therapy with low-dose aspirin plus another antiplatelet agent, clopidogrel (Plavix®), is not more effective than aspirin alone in preventing heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death in a broad patient population. “This is an important study that completes the spectrum of patients evaluated for plavix therapy,” says Stephen G. Ellis, MD, Section Head of Invasive/Interv
