Treatment of patients not eligible for thrombolysis

The use of subcutaneous heparin was evaluated in the International Stroke Trial. In this unblinded study, heparin was associated with a reduced incidence of recurrent ischemic strokes within 14 days (2.9 versus 3.8 percent), but there was no significant improvement in outcome at six months and there was a higher risk of intracranial bleeding.



At present there is inadequate data to support the use of subcutaneous or low molecule weight heparin at this time.