A spirin is a first line antiplatelet agent for the secondary prevention of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack.1 In addition, aspirin is recommended in national guidelines for primary prevention of vascular events in patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors.
2,3With its low cost and easy accessibility, prophylacticBackground and Purpose-Selecting among different antiplatelet strategies when patients experience a new ischemic stroke while taking aspirin is a common clinical challenge, currently addressed by a paucity of data. Methods-This study is an analysis of a prospective multicenter stroke registry database from 14 hospitals in South Korea.Patients with acute noncardioembolic stroke, who were taking aspirin for prevention of ischemic events at the time of onset of stroke, were enrolled. Study subjects were divided into 3 groups according to the subsequent antiplatelet therapy strategy pursued; maintaining aspirin monotherapy (MA group), switching aspirin to nonaspirin antiplatelet agents (SA group), and adding another antiplatelet agent to aspirin (AA group). The primary study end point was the composite of stroke (ischemic and hemorrhagic), myocardial infarction, and vascular death up to 1 year after stroke onset. Results-A total of 1172 patients were analyzed for this study. Antiplatelet strategies pursued in study patients were MA group in 212 (18.1%), SA group in 246 (21.0%), and AA group in 714 (60.9%). The Cox proportional hazards regression analysis showed that, compared with the MA group, there was a reduction in the composite vascular event primary end point in the SA group (hazard ratio, 0.50; 95% confidence interval, 0.27-0.92; P=0.03) and in the AA group (hazard ratio, 0.40; 95% confidence interval, 0.24-0.66; P<0.001). Conclusions-This study showed that, compared with maintaining aspirin, switching to or adding alternative antiplatelet agents may be better in preventing subsequent vascular events in patients who experienced a new ischemic stroke while taking aspirin.
Kim et al Antiplatelet Strategies in Prior Aspirin Users 129aspirin use is frequent in the middle-aged and elderly population. [4][5][6] Therefore, patients who suffer a new ischemic stroke while taking aspirin are frequently encountered in a daily practice. Antiplatelet management options in these patients are to maintain aspirin monotherapy, replace aspirin with other antiplatelet agents, such as clopidogrel, or add other antiplatelet agents to aspirin.1,7-10 However, both randomized trial and large-scale registry data to guide this decision are sparse. Accordingly, the most recent American Heart Association/American Stroke Association guideline states that there is no evidence that switching or combining antiplatelet agents reduces the risk of subsequent vascular events in patients who have had stroke while receiving aspirin (Class IIb, Level of Evidence C).
1A post hoc analysis of 838 patients, who have had a recent lacunar stroke while taking aspirin from the Secondary Prevention of Small Subcortical Strok...