Thursday June 5, 2008


Q: How many units of platelets are required to avoid possible bleeding due to 300 mg dose of Plavix (clopidogrel)?


Answer: 10 units

According to one recent work 1, pre-operative transfusion of 10 platelet concentrate units after a 300-mg clopidogrel loading or 12.5 units after a 600 mg loading may adequately reverse clopidogrel-induced platelet disaggregation to facilitate postoperative hemostasis. An additional 2.5 units fully normalized platelet function. Roughly, each unit of platelet concentrate would incrementally increase platelet count by 10, 000 uL



Editors' note: Limitation of study - the study was performed under in vitro conditions and there is a lack of information regarding the correlation with in vivo clinical outcomes, which is acknowledged by authors.


References: click to get abstract/article

1. Normalization of platelet reactivity in clopidogrel-treated subjects - Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, 5: 82–90