Clinical use of cangrelor: nationwide experience from the Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry (SCAAR).

Aims This nationwide study aimed to analyse the first 2 years of routine clinical use of cangrelor in all Swedish patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods and results This observational Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry (SCAAR) study identified 915 cangrelor-treated patients. As 899 were ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)-patients undergoing primary PCI, we decided to exclude all non-STEMI patients (n=16) from the following analysis. We then identified all primary PCI patients, January 2016 to January 2018 (n=10816). Excluding hospitals without cangrelor use, tailoring time frames from first cangrelor use per hospital, patients treated with cangrelor (n=899) were compared with those without cangrelor treatment (n=4614). A separate analysis was performed for cardiac arrest STEMI patients (n=273). Cangrelor-use in primary PCI varied greatly between hospitals (4-36%, mean 16%). At variance with randomized trials, cangrelor was used nearly exclusively in STEMI, often with cardiac arrest (19%). Cangrelor was combined with ticagrelor in two-thirds of patients, among which >50% was prehospital. Cangrelor was used more frequently in high-risk patients: left main PCI, thrombus aspiration, and cardiac arrest. Despite cangrelor being used in more high-risk patients, crude definite stent thrombosis rates at 30days were low and similar in cangrelor (0.7%) and non-cangrelor treated patients (0.8%). Conclusion Cangrelor was used nearly exclusively in primary PCI STEMI patients, predominantly with ticagrelor. Despite being used in very high-risk patients, often with cardiac arrest, cangrelor treatment was associated with low stent thrombosis rates.