The combination of ticagrelor and aspirin reduces the risk of recurrence and disability in patients with stroke

When a patient has an acute ischemic stroke or a transient ischemic attack, there is a 15% risk of having a new ischemic attack within the first few days or weeks. To prevent this new stroke, aspirin is usually administered to these patients. A new international study that has had the participation of the Clinical Neurosciences Group of the IRBLleida, led by the researcher and responsible of the Hospital Universitari Arnau de Vilanvoa de Lleida Stroke Unit, Francesc Purroy, has shown that the use of aspirin together with the drug ticagrelor is able to reduce both a new stroke and the disability derived from it in the first 30 days compared to aspirin alone.

The results of THALES (Acute Stroke or Transient Ischaemic Attack Treated with Ticagrelor and ASA [acetylsalicylic acid] for Prevention of Stroke and Death) clinical trial have been published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The study had the participation of 414 centers from 28 different countries, for example the IRBLleida and the Vall d'Hebron Stroke Unit. 

Ticagrelor is an antiplatelet drug that is currently used for the treatment of myocardial infarction. In previous studies, it was found that when it was administered alone to patients who had had a stroke, it didn't improve the action of aspirine alone in preventing new strokes or death. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of both drugs together.

The study included 11,106 patients with a mean age of 65 years. All of them had had a mild or moderate acute non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke, in which cerebral blood flow is obstructed and causes brain cell death, or a transient ischemic attack, which occurs only for a short period of time and does not produce tissue death. In less than 24 hours, patients were assigned to one of two treatment groups: 5,523 people received ticagrelor and aspirin for one month, and 5,493 received placebo during the same time.

Information: VHIR and IRBLleida communication department