• Alex M Blaicher, Harald T Landsteiner, Olga Al-Falaki, Jochen Zwerina, Ivo Volf, Diego Gruber, Michael Zimpfer, and Klaus Hoerauf.
• Department of Anesthesiology and General Intensive Care, University of Vienna,Vienna, Austria. alex.blaicher@univie.ac.at
• Anesth. Analg. 2004 Apr 1; 98 (4): 1082-5, table of contents.

UnlabelledNonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs are routinely administered in the perioperative period. Because of the absence of cyclooxygenase-2 in platelets, cyclooxygenase-2-selective drugs are thought not to cause platelet inhibition. Because platelets play an important role in the coagulation process, the absence of platelet function inhibition may lead to fewer bleeding complications after surgery. We studied the influence of aspirin, diclofenac, lornoxicam, and rofecoxib on arachidonic acid and collagen-induced CD 62 P (P selectin) expression by using flow cytometry. Blood from 68 volunteers was obtained before and 1, 3, and 12 h after the oral ingestion of 1 of the randomly assigned study medications. Aspirin, diclofenac, and lornoxicam had a significant effect on arachidonic acid and collagen-induced CD 62 P expression in platelets, whereas rofecoxib did not show this effect. We conclude that rofecoxib is safe to use perioperatively with respect to inhibition of platelet function.ImplicationsWe compared the effect of rofecoxib and three nonselective nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs on platelet function, measured by CD 62 P expression. Platelet function was not altered by rofecoxib, but it was inhibited by aspirin, diclofenac, and lornoxicam. Rofecoxib may be safer than classic NSAIDs with respect to platelet function during the perioperative period.

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