Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 22, 1990 TAG: 9003222651
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: Medium
These strokes are triggered by extremely rapid beating of the atria, the heart's upper chambers, a condition called atrial fibrillation. About 1.2 million people have this abnormality, and most have gone untreated.
The researchers said they were amazed to find that aspirin, already widely recommended to prevent heart attacks, can keep people from getting this form of stroke.
"We are talking about a condition that probably causes 200 strokes a day. This is an important piece of news when you realize that they may be prevented by something as simple as a daily aspirin," said a co-author of the study, Dr. Jonathan Halperin of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
The strokes result when blood clots form inside the rapidly beating heart chamber. If they move into the bloodstream, they can travel to the brain, choking off the supply of blood.
The only way to prevent these kinds of strokes was regular use of the drug warfarin, a blood thinner that is a common ingredient of rat poison.
Although often used for severe atrial fibrillation caused by damaged heart valves, many doctors are reluctant to prescribe the medicine for milder cases because of the possibility of severe bleeding.
A stroke specialist who did not participate in the study said the results mean that aspirin may be an alternative for people who cannot take warfarin. But Dr. Louis Caplan of New England Medical Center cautioned:
"The actual amount of the effect and whether it is superior to warfarin and in which patients are unclear."
The aspirin findings were based on a comparison study conducted on 1,244 people at 17 medical centers across the United States. A preliminary report was published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.
Earlier studies have suggested that aspirin can block the formation of blood clots in the coronary arteries that feed the heart muscle. But the clumps of blood that form inside the atria were thought to result from a different clotting mechanism.
About 15 percent of the 500,000 strokes in the United States each year occur in people with atrial fibrillation. Experts say these strokes are often particularly damaging.
In the study, people were randomly assigned to take aspirin, warfarin or dummy placebos. The placebo part of the study was stopped after a year because of a striking reduction in risk among those getting either aspirin or warfarin.
The study found that 3 percent of those taking aspirin suffered either strokes or blockages in the blood supply to other parts of the body, compared with 6 percent in the placebo group.
by CNB