Blood thinner plus aspirin can cut strokes, study finds

Plavix, known under the generic name of clopidogrel, is used to stop the platelets in blood from coagulating and forming clots.

Researchers combined it with aspirin, in clinical trials known as ACTIVE-A of 7,554 patients, to show that it could help patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who are unable to take other blood thinning medications such as warfarin.

“The purpose of the ACTIVE-A trial was to determine if the addition of clopidogrel to aspirin would reduce major vascular events and stroke in patients with AF at an acceptable risk of increased hemorrhage,” said Stuart Connolly, from Ontario's McMaster University.

Oral anticoagulants such as warfarin and aspirin have been the only therapies proved effective so far in treating patients suffering from atrial fibrillation, in which the heart's two upper chambers, the atria, quiver instead of beating effectively.

This increases the risk of the blood clotting or pooling in the chambers, which in turn could trigger a heart attack or stroke.

“For the first time in 20 years, there is a new treatment for atrial fibrillation,” Connolly told the annual conference of the American College of Cardiology in Orlando.

According to the American Heart Association, some 2.2 million Americans suffer from atrial fibrillation and often need to be fitted with a pacemaker.

But many of them cannot be treated with warfarin to stop blood clots forming because it increases the risk of an internal hemorrhage by up to 70 percent.

The study found that a combination of clopidogrel and aspirin reduced major vascular events by 11 percent, including a 28 percent reduction in stroke and a 23 percent reduction in myocardial infarction.

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