In reducing blood clots, the combination of Clopidogrel and aspirin is more effective than only aspirin.
The results were declared after 107 participants across four countries of the Europe were given the combination medication or only aspirin. Each of the participants of the study had had a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). All the patients have at least 50% narrower carotid arteries. The experimental group had microscopic blood clots in a brain artery.The scientists had used transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound for one hour to detect the microemboli in the patients’ middle cerebral artery of the brain. There were about 43.8% microscopic clots in patients who were administered the drug combo, in comparison to the other group who had 72.7% clots with only aspirin. The combination therapy had lowered the frequency of blood clot formation in the arteries also.
At present aspirin is routinely prescribed to patients who have a high risk of stroke, although aspirin seem to prevent an attack of stroke or ischemic heart attack by only 20%. It is for this reason the scientists of the research feels that there should be new ways for prevention of clotting and this research may be one of them.
