Biomed Pap Med Fac Univ Palacky Olomouc Czech Repub. 2016, 160(4):543-548 | DOI: 10.5507/bp.2016.042

The safety and efficacy of Heparin and Nadroparin compared to placebo in acute ischemic stroke - pilot study

Jana Dluha^a, Stefan Sivak^a, Egon Kurca^a, Robert Dusenka^b, Klaudia Kalmarova^a, Monika Turcanova Koprusakova^a, Ema Kantorova^a, Vladimir Nosal^a

^a Clinic of Neurology, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University in Bratislava and University Hospital in Martin, Slovak Republic

^b Clinic of Urology, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University in Bratislava and University Hospital in Martin, Slovak Republic

Aims: This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of heparin and nadroparin in order to provide an additional therapeutic option for patients with acute ischemic stroke in, whom systemic thrombolysis was excluded, or thrombectomy could not be performed.

Methods: We describe a prospective randomized double-blind placebo-controlled pilot study in acute ischemic stroke. The therapeutic window was between 4.5 and 24 h after the onset of stroke. During the first 24 h of treatment, the patients divided into 3 groups received placebo, heparin or nadroparin (in therapeutic doses). During the following 48 h, each patient received nadroparin in the therapeutic dose. 24 h after start of treatment they began taking 100 mg aspirin daily. The primary safety indicator was incidence of complications such as intracerebral or systemic hemorrhage, or death. Efficacy was primarily monitored by the neurological modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at 90 days.

Results: There were no signs of intracerebral or systemic bleeding in the cohort of 87 patients. Two patients died - one (3.7%) in the heparin and one (3.8%) in the placebo group due to causes not connected with the treatment. There was a statistically significant difference in mRS on the 90^th day between the heparin and placebo groups (21 (80%) vs 13 (50%), P=0.0350) and between the nadroparin and placebo groups (29 (85%) vs 13 (50%), P=0.0031).

Conclusion: The results show that the treatment with heparin and nadroparin is safe and effective. Trial registration: Trial is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01862978.

Keywords: Key words: acute ischemic stroke, nadroparin, heparin, safety, efficacy, mRS

Received: June 23, 2016; Accepted: August 3, 2016; Prepublished online: September 19, 2016; Published: December 12, 2016  Show citation