Ever Decreasing Circles: Advances in Antiplatelet Therapy and Anticoagulation (original) (raw)

Selection of anticoagulants or antiplatelet-aggregating agents for prevention of stroke

Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, 2002

Stroke is one of leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the United States. Stroke prevention includes treatment of the stroke risk factors and long-term use of antithrombotic agents. Various agents have been studied for stroke prevention and other trials are ongoing. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the recent guidelines, recommendations, and clinical trial results using antithrombotic therapy for stroke prevention.

Antiplatelets in Stroke Prevention

Current Vascular Pharmacology, 2014

Stroke is the second cause of death worldwide and one of the leading causes of disability. Approximately 25% of strokes are recurrent. In patients who are at high risk because they already have occlusive vascular disease, long-term antiplatelet therapy (eg, with aspirin) reduces the yearly risk of serious vascular events (non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, or vascular death) by about a quarter. Current recommendations for prevention of secondary stroke indicate for the broad use of antiplatelet therapy for the prevention of recurrent stroke in patients with a history of non-cardioembolic stroke or TIA. For primary prevention, however, the balance is less clear because the risks without aspirin, and hence the absolute benefi ts of aspirin, are generally an order of magnitude lower than in secondary prevention. In patients who are at high risk because they already have occlusive vascular disease, long-term antiplatelet therapy (e.g. with aspirin) reduces the yearly risk of serious vascular events (non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, or vascular death) by about a quarter. Although several trials have investigated the use of antiplatelet drugs in ischemic stroke patients, ascertaining the sure benefit, especially in secondary prevention in non-cardioembolic stroke, various issues remains unclarified, and new questions arise with the analysis of the results of available trials.

Antiplatelet therapy in secondary stroke prevention

Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, 2001

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Antiplatelet agents are the mainstays of ischaemic stroke prevention. The therapies recommended for initial therapy include aspirin (50-325 mg) daily, the combination of aspirin (25 mg) and extended-release dipyridamole (200 mg) b.i.d., or clopidogrel (75 mg) daily. Ticlopidine 250 mg b.i.d. is approved for stroke prevention but is no longer a first-line therapy. This article reviews the literature on antiplatelet agents for secondary stroke prevention.

Dual or Mono Antiplatelet Therapy for the Prevention of Ischemic Stroke: A Literature Review

Cureus, 2018

Ischemic stroke is defined as a sudden loss of blood to the brain which results in deprivation of oxygen and other nutrients. It can be either a transient episode called as "transient ischemic attack" (TIA), or it could last longer than 24 hours giving rise to "infarction of tissues" in the central nervous system. Anti-platelet agents are widely used for the secondary prophylaxis of ischemic stroke, and amongst them, aspirin remains the drug of choice. In this literature review, we summarized the existing data regarding the ischemic type of strokes with particular attention to the use of antiplatelet agents for this purpose. The following review highlights the significance of the use of dual antiplatelet (aspirin and clopidogrel) regimen for the stroke prevention. The role of dual antiplatelet (aspirin and clopidogrel) in patients with a recent TIA (within 30 days) or severe stenosis (70%-99%) of a major intracranial artery, for 90 days, might be a beneficial app...

Recent Clinical Trial Results with Antiplatelet Therapy: Implications in Stroke Prevention

Cerebrovascular Diseases, 2004

Dual antiplatelet therapy that inhibits more than one pathway of platelet activation is appealing and biologically rational. The CURE study evaluated the efficacy and safety of clopidogrel on top of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) versus standard therapy (including ASA) in over 12,000 patients with unstable angina or non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (MI). Clopidogrel in combination with ASA reduced the relative risk of the combined atherothrombotic endpoint of cardiovascular death, MI or stroke by 20% (95% CI 0.72–0.90; p < 0.001) and the absolute risk of this composite endpoint by 2.1%. While the study was not powered or designed to demonstrate a reduction in stroke, there was a 14% reduction in stroke risk (p > 0.05). Dual antiplatelet therapy was associated with an acceptable 1% increase in the incidence of major bleeding events (p = 0.001). PCI-CURE, a prespecified substudy of patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) during CURE, confirmed t...

Comparison of Antiplatelet and Antithrombotic Therapy for Secondary Prevention of Ischemic Stroke in Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease

Circulation Journal, 2013

Background: A limited number of studies have assessed the benefit and risk among the different antiplatelet and antithrombotic therapies in patient with stroke and peripheral artery disease (PAD). We compared the efficacy and safety of clopidogrel, cilostazol, warfarin, and aspirin. Methods and Results: A retrospective cohort study analyzing the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Dataset identified patients with stroke and PAD from 2002 to 2008. Patients were stratified according to their use of aspirin, clopidogrel, cilostazol, warfarin or combination therapy. A total of 1,686 patients were enrolled: aspirin (n=862), clopidogrel (n=92), warfarin (n=136), cilostazol only (n=515), and cilostazol-based combination therapy (n=81). Compared with aspirin, cilostazol could reduce the risk of ischemic stroke [hazard ratio (HR) 0.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63-0.98, P=0.0349) and no increase in hemorrhagic events (HR 0.98, 95% CI 0.74-1.32, P=0.9122). Clopidogrel decreased the risk of ischemic stroke (HR 0.47, 95% CI 0.29-0.78, P=0.0033) and hemorrhagic events (HR 0.64, 95% CI 0.31-0.96, P=0.034) more than aspirin. There was no statistical difference regarding the risk of stroke and hemorrhagic events among warfarin, cilostazol-based combination therapy and aspirin. Conclusions: Cilostazol and clopidogrel were more effective in preventing recurrent ischemic stroke without increased hemorrhagic events than aspirin in patients with PAD.

Comparison of antiplatelet regimens in secondary stroke prevention: a nationwide cohort study

BMC Neurology, 2015

Background: In patients with ischemic stroke of non-cardioembolic origin, acetylsalicylic acid, clopidogrel, or a combination of acetylsalicylic acid and dipyridamole are recommended for the prevention of a recurrent stroke. The purpose of this study was to examine the risk of bleeding or recurrent stroke associated with these three treatments. Methods: Patients who were discharged with first-time ischemic stroke from 2007-2010, with no history of atrial fibrillation were identified from Danish nationwide registries. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 1-year risks of recurrent ischemic stroke and bleeding were calculated for each antiplatelet regimen. Results: Among patients discharged after first-time ischemic stroke, 3043 patients were treated with acetylsalicylic acid, 12,295 with a combination of acetylsalicylic acid and dipyridamole, and 3885 with clopidogrel. Adjusted HRs for clopidogrel versus the combination of acetylsalicylic acid and dipyridamole were 1.02 (95 % confidence interval [CI]: 0.89-1.17) for ischemic stroke and 1.06 (95 % CI: 0.83-1.35) for bleeding. Adjusted HRs for acetylsalicylic acid versus the combination of acetylsalicylic acid and dipyridamole were 1.48 (95 % CI: 1.31-1.67) for stroke and 1.47 (95 % CI: 1.18-1.82) for bleeding. Clopidogrel versus acetylsalicylic acid yielded HRs of 0.69 (95 % CI: 0.59-0.81) and 0.72 (95 % CI: 0.55-0.96) for stroke and bleeding, respectively. The 1-year predicted risks associated with acetylsalicylic acid, the combination of acetylsalicylic acid and dipyridamole, and clopidogrel were 11.1 (95 %