HONG KONG
The anti-clotting drug cilostazol may work better than aspirin in preventing secondary stroke in east Asian patients, a study in Japan has found.
In a paper published on Saturday in The Lancet Neurology, the researchers said cilostazol reduced by 26 per cent the risk of recurrent stroke compared with aspirin.
''Cilostazol ... might be superior to aspirin for prevention of stroke after an ischaemic stroke, and was associated with fewer haemorrhagic events,'' wrote the researchers, led by
Yukito Shinohara at Tachikawa Hospital in Tokyo.
The study was funded by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co, which manufactures cilostazol under the brand name Pletal. The company is a unit of Japan's Otsuka Holdings Co Ltd, a maker of
drugs and food products.
The study involved 2,757 stroke patients, with half of them given 100 mg of cilostazol twice daily and the other half 81 mg of aspirin once daily for between one to five years.
The participants were monitored for an average of 29 months and fewer patients suffered a second stroke in the cilostazol group (82) than in the aspirin group (119).
Twenty-three patients who took cilostazol suffered haemorrhage compared to 57 who were given aspirin.
''Cilostazol reduced the risk of major bleeding by 54 percent,'' the researchers wrote.
However, more of those who took cilostazol complained about side effects such as headache, diarrhoea, palpitations and dizziness.
Sep 2010
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