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Edaravone Improves Outcome for Patients With Acute Lacunar Infarction: Presented at ISC

By Lexa W. Lee

NEW ORLEANS -- February 25, 2008 -- Edaravone, a free-radical scavenger, improves clinical outcomes in patients with acute lacunar infarction, according to findings presented here at the International Stroke Conference (ISC) 2008.

Free radicals are thought to play an important role in neural damage that occurs during cerebral infarction. Edaravone has been shown to inhibit brain oedema after ischaemia, tissue injury, delayed neuronal death, and vascular endothelial cell injury. However, the clinical data are limited as to the effects of edaravone on acute cerebral infarction, according to lead author Yasuyuki Ohta, MD, Neurologist, Oota Memorial Hospital, Fukuyama, Japan.

To assess the effect of edaravone on outcomes in patients with acute lacunar infarction, Dr. Ohta and colleagues conducted a retrospective evaluation of 124 consecutive patients admitted within 24 hours of onset of a first-time acute lacunar infarction. The study's findings were presented in a poster session on February 21.

Of these, 59 patients were treated with a combination of edaravone and conventional therapy (including oral anticoagulants, heparin, argatroban, and/or ozagrel sodium), and 65 patients received conventional therapy without edaravone.

There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in baseline characteristics and the percentage use of conventional therapy for acute lacunar infarction. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used to evaluate clinical outcome. Favourable outcome was defined as a NIHSS score at discharge no greater than 1.

The mean reduction in NIHSS score during hospitalisation was 1.51 for the edaravone group and 1.03 for the non-edaravone group. The percentage of patients with favourable outcome (91.5% vs 78.5%; P = .044) was significantly larger in the edaravone group than in the non-edaravone group.

This study showed that edaravone improves outcomes of patients with acute lacunar infarction regardless of what type of conventional therapy is used concomitantly, the researchers concluded.


[Presentation title: Efficacy of a Free Radical Scavenger, Edaravone, on Acute Lacunar Infarction. Abstract P172]

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