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| |  Statin Use Not Linked to Haemorrhagic Transformation of Ischaemic Stroke: Presented at ISC By Ed Susman SAN ANTONIO, Tex -- February 26, 2010 -- The prior use of statin treatment to control cholesterol does not appear to impact the conversion of ischaemic strokes to haemorrhagic cerebrovascular events, researchers said here at the 2010 International Stroke Conference (ISC). “It is unclear if there is a compounded risk of intracerebral haemorrhage when therapies to restore perfusion are combined with the previous use of statins,” said Jason S. Day, MD, Neurology Clinic, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, during his poster presentation on February 25. “We sought to examine whether the prior use of statins was associated with the frequency of intracerebral haemorrhage following acute ischaemic stroke in the setting of a clinical trial testing investigational antithrombotic therapy,” he said. Sifting though the data collected on 804 participants of a clinical trial that examined the use of intravenous abciximab in patients diagnosed with acute ischaemic stroke, Dr. Day and colleagues identified 97 patients with computer tomography/magnetic resonance imaging evidence of symptomatic or asymptomatic parenchymal intracerebral haemorrhage. Of the patients, 61 had been assigned to receive abciximab and 36 had been assigned placebo. About 16.8% of the patients in the overall study were taking statins prior to their hospitalisation for stroke. Of those, 14 experienced evidence of an intracerebral haemorrhage (~10.4%). Of the other 669 patients, 83 (12.4%) also experienced evidence of a haemorrhagic stroke. The difference did not achieve statistical significance (P = .38). “Statin use did not increase the rate of early parenchymal haemorrhagic complications following an acute ischaemic stroke even after adjusting for potential confounders,” said Dr. Day. He noted that the study had several limitations, including the fact that the trial is an ad hoc analysis. The data collection did not permit the researchers from determining the duration of statin use. Similarly the dose of the statin could not be determined nor could the type of statin used by the patients. The researchers also did not have data on the patients’ cholesterol levels. The original study was prematurely halted when researchers noted that patients who were being treated with abciximab were not performing as well as those on placebo. [Presentation title: Prior Use of Statins Is Not Associated With an Increased Risk of Hemorrhagic Transformation of Acute Cerebral Infarction. Abstract P489]
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