Aspirin in secondary cardiovascular prevention: from clinical studies to daily practice.

The clinical benefit of aspirin in coronary insufficiency has been validated in the acute phase of myocardial infarction and in secondary prevention with a reduction of the risk of recurrent infarction of the order of 30 %. By interfering with the process of thrombolysis, aspirin modifies the natural history of coronary artery disease by decreasing the frequency and severity of pathological events. Although a relative consensus has been reached concerning the dosages (160 to 325 mg/day), the use of aspirin nevertheless remains very insufficient, sometimes because of the risk of gastrointestinal intolerance related to the gastrotoxicity of aspirin, hence the importance of pharmaceutical forms designed to improve the gastrointestinal tolerance, such as calcium carbasalate (soluble aspirin complex), which appears to be particularly well tolerated.