Ticagrelor with aspirin or alone in high-risk patients after coronary intervention: Rationale and design of the TWILIGHT study

BACKGROUND: Dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is necessary to prevent thrombosis yet increases bleeding after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES). Antiplatelet monotherapy with a potent P2Y₁₂ receptor antagonist may reduce bleeding while maintaining anti thrombotic efficacy compared with conventional DAPT. METHODS: TWILIGHT is a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial evaluating the comparative efficacy and safety of antiplatelet monotherapy versus DAPT in up to 9000 high-risk patients undergoing PCI with DES. Upon enrollment after successful PCI, all patients will be treated with open label low-dose aspirin (81-100 mg daily) plus ticagrelor (90 mg twice daily) for 3 months. Event-free patients will then be randomized in a double-blind fashion to low-dose aspirin versus matching placebo with continuation of open-label ticagrelor for an additional 12 months. The primary hypothesis is that a strategy of ticagrelor monotherapy will be superior with respect to the primary endpoint of bleeding academic research consortium type 2, 3 or 5, while maintaining non-inferiority for ischemic events compared with ticagrelor plus ASA. CONCLUSIONS: TWILIGHT is the largest study to date that is specifically designed and powered to demonstrate reductions in bleeding with ticagrelor monotherapy versus ticagrelor plus ASA beyond 3 months post-procedure in a high-risk PCI population treated with DES. The trial will provide novel insights with respect to the potential role of ticagrelor monotherapy as an alternative for long-term platelet inhibition in a broad population of patients undergoing PCI with DES.