After the introduction of the second-generation drug-eluting stents (DES), the rates of device-related failure or target lesion failure such as restenosis and stent thrombosis has been markedly decreased, compared with the era of bare-metal stents or first-generation DES. Nevertheless, the risk of ischemic events including very late stent thrombosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has still remained even though the use of second-generation DES. In this regard, the ACC (American College of Cardiology)/AHA (American Heart Association) and ESC (European Society of Cardiology) guidelines recommended that dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) should be considered for 12 months or longer in patients presented with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and for 6 months or longer in patients presented with stable ischemic heart disease (SIHD) after PCI with DES. In particular, patients presented with a high risk of ischemic events such as diabetes mellitus, myocardial infarction, or complex coronary lesions were associated with significantly increased future recurrent ischemic events after PCI with DES. In addition, maintenance of DAPT for 12 months or longer has been shown to reduce the recurrence of ischemic events up to 44% in patients treated with PCI for complex coronary artery lesion; therefore the current guideline recommended that prolonged DAPT might be considered when performing complex PCI. However, prolonged DAPT increases bleeding risk and cost. Endoscopic, dental, and surgical procedures are often delayed due to prolonged DAPT, which may affect the patient's quality of life. Therefore, to determine the optimal or minimal necessary duration of DAPT is very important.~The other important issue is that which antiplatelet agent is more appropriate after DAPT. Aspirin monotherapy has been recommended traditionally. However, there is no randomized comparison study between aspirin monotherapy versus clopidogrel monotherapy after DAPT in patients undergoing PCI with DES. Furthermore, clopidogrel is also actively used as a monotherapy after DAPT in real-world practice. In CAPRIE (clopidogrel versus aspirin in patients at risk of ischemic events) trial, clopidogrel showed a superior efficacy in preventing ischemic events compared with aspirin. Moreover, the incidence of gastrointestinal bleeding was significantly lower with clopidogrel than with aspirin. Clopidogrel monotherapy can reduce ischemic events and bleeding risk compared with aspirin monotherapy.~Therefore, the purpose of the SMART-CHOICE 3 (SMart Angioplasty Research Team: CHoice of Optimal Anti-Thrombotic Strategy in Patients Undergoing Implantation of Coronary Drug-Eluting Stents 3) trial is to determine the efficacy and safety of clopidogrel monotherapy as compared with aspirin monotherapy beyond 12 months after PCI with current-generation DES in patients being treated with DAPT at high risk for recurrent ischemic events.
This study is prospective, open-label, two-arm, randomized multicenter trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of clopidogrel monotherapy as compared with aspirin monotherapy beyond 12 months after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES) in patients being treated with dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) at high risk for recurrent ischemic events.