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Previous Volume 352:287-289 January 20, 2005 Number 3 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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In the treatment of cardiovascular disease, clinicians commonly are caught between the competing considerations of cardiovascular benefit and gastrointestinal risks. Low-dose aspirin (325 mg or less daily) lowers the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular thrombotic events. Aspirin prevents thromboses and blocks platelet aggregation through inhibition of the cyclooxygenase enzyme, thereby reducing thromboxane synthesis. Owing to the inhibition of cyclooxygenase in the gastrointestinal tract, aspirin also causes gastrointestinal ulceration and major bleeding, which limit its usefulness as an antithrombotic agent.

The risk of gastrointestinal bleeding generally increases by a factor of two to three with the use of low-dose aspirin.¹ Although . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From the Gastroenterology Section, Department of Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Dallas.

Related Letters:

Clopidogrel versus Aspirin and Esomeprazole to Prevent Recurrent Bleeding
Wolk M. J., Jacobs A. K., Wargo K. A., Baty S. R., Knowles G., Barski P. R. Jr., Chan F. K.L., the Gastrointestinal Research Group
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2005; 352:1716-1718, Apr 21, 2005. Correspondence

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