MONDAY, May 5 (HealthDay News) -- The anti-clotting drug
cilostazol is as good as aspirin at preventing recurrent stroke and
it causes less bleeding in the brain, a study by researchers at
Peking University First Hospital in Beijing shows.
The trial included 360 patients stroke patients who took
cilostazol for 12 to 18 months and 359 patients who took aspirin
for the same length of time. Twelve patients in the cilostazol
group and 20 patients in the aspirin group suffered recurrent
stroke.
The researchers calculated that cilostazol reduced the risk of
recurrent stroke by 38 percent, which is not statistically
significant. But they also found that far fewer brain bleeding
events occurred in the cilostazol group (one patient) than in the
aspirin group (seven patients), which was statistically
significant.
"The lower rates of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in the
cilostazol group suggests that cilostazol might be a more effective
and safer alternative to aspirin for Chinese patients with ischemic
stroke; however, a larger phase III trial is required to confirm
this," the researchers wrote.
Stroke is the second leading cause of death in China. While
aspirin is effective for preventing recurrent stroke, Asian people
are more likely than others to suffer brain bleeding when taking
aspirin, and the incidence of such bleeds in China is higher than
in high-income nations. Cilostazol works through a different
mechanism than aspirin.
The study appears online Monday in
The Lancet Neurology, and will be published in the June
print edition of the journal.
"The implications of these results for clinicians are that they
offer hope for a safer antiplatelet [anti-clotting] drug that is at
least as effective as aspirin for use in patients with ischemic
stroke," Dr. Graeme J. Hankey, department of neurology, Royal Perth
Hospital in Australia, wrote in an accompanying editorial.
More information
The American Stroke Association outlines ways to
prevent another stroke.
