Aspirin inhibition of platelet deposition at angioplasty sites: demonstration by platelet scintigraphy.

In-111 platelet scintigraphy was used to evaluate the effects of prior aspirin administration on the accumulation of In-111-labeled autologous platelets at sites of arterial injury resulting from iliac, femoral, or popliteal transluminal angioplasty in a nonrandomized study of 17 men. The degree of platelet localization at angioplasty sites was significantly less in nine men who had received aspirin in varying doses within the 4 days before angioplasty than in eight men who had not received aspirin for at least two weeks. Our results suggest that aspirin treatment before angioplasty limits the early platelet deposition at the angioplasty site in men.