Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Treatment of Patients with Coronary Heart Disease and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

• Main Authors: Aisulu T. Mussagalieva, MD, PhD, Gulnara M. Imantaeva, MD, PhD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Medical Research and Development Corporation 2012-03-01
• Series: International Journal of Biomedicine
• Subjects: coronary heart disease; type 2 diabetes mellitus; platelet aggregation; treatment.
• Online Access: http://www.ijbm.org/articles/2_1_CR4.pdf

Increased platelet aggregation is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular events. However, recent studies have demonstrated the inhibition of platelet aggregation by omega-3 PUFAs. The aim of this work was to study the effect of the addition of omega-3 PUFAs to the combination of aspirin and clopidogrel on the platelet aggregation in patients with coronary heart disease. In all, 40 patients with coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus type 2 undergoing PCI with stent implantation were included in the study. Clopidogrel in a 300 mg loading dose was given after drawing blood for baselinemeasurement of ADP-induced platelet aggregation. Patients were randomized into two groups. The first group included 20 patients who received 75 mg clopidogrel once daily, 100 mg aspirin once daily and 1000 mg omega-3 PUFAs daily. The second group included 20 patients who received 75 mg clopidogrel once daily and 100 mg aspirin daily. The ADP– induced platelet aggregation was performed twice, once before clopidogrel administration and once after one month. All the patients were genotyped for CYP2C19 polymorphism. No significant differences were noted among the genotype and allele frequencies of the cytochrome CYP2C19 gene between the two groups. The addition of omega-3 PUFAs to the standard dual antiplatelet therapy of aspirin and clopidogrel significantly decreased the ADP-induced platelet aggregation.