Active clinical trials for "Stroke"

Persons voluntarily attending the Community Center of the Atahualpa Project during one calendar year will be evaluated by trained personnel to check their cardiovascular health status. A chart with information of healthy behaviors as well as the numbers of the person's blood pressure, fasting glucose, and total cholesterol levels will be given. Persons who sign the informed consent will be visited at their homes after 3 months and than every year up to five years. The idea is to check whether the person followed our advises and if that compliance iis associated with improvement in the cardiovascular status or with a decreased incidence of stroke and ischemic heart disease, when compared with persons who did not attend the community center or those who did not follow our advices.

The primary objective of the study is to compare the effect of 90-day treatment with ticagrelor (180 mg [two 90 mg tablets] loading dose on Day 1 followed by 90 mg twice daily maintenance dose for the remainder of the study) vs acetylsalicylic acid (ASA)-aspirin (300 mg [three 100 mg tablets] loading dose on Day 1 followed by 100 mg once daily maintenance dose for the remainder of the study) for the prevention of major vascular events (composite of stroke, myocardial infarction [MI], and death) in patients with acute ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA).

Stroke remains the fourth leading cause of death in the United States (second worldwide) and a leading cause of long-term disability, resulting in total direct and indirect costs of approximately $73.7 billion annually. The failure of novel therapies in clinical trials demonstrates that the complex neural response to stroke must be targeted at multiple levels to improve patient outcomes. Despite significant improvements in stroke treatment and management, 1 year survival rate among stroke patients aged 65 years or more is around 25%, and 5- year survival rate amounts to approximately 50%. The highest chances of death are within 30 days of stroke. Mortality increases due to worsening brain dysfunction, elevated intracranial pressure (ICP), and other comorbid conditions. Treatments aimed at reducing post-stroke cytotoxic edema may reduce the risk for development of malignant stroke and mortality. Current treatments such as osmo-therapy and hemicraniectomy have substantial limitations, and mortality remains high, despite these measures outcomes remain unsatisfactory. There is a great need for alternative medical approaches which are safe, predictable, and help to ameliorate post stroke edema.

Stroke is one of the major causes not only of mortality, but of disease burden worldwide, because of residual disability and cognitive decline. Although blood pressure lowering has been clearly shown to be the most effective means for primary and secondary prevention of stroke, the systolic blood pressure (SBP) levels to achieve by treatment in order to optimize prevention results are unknown, and whether SBP levels lower than those usually recommended are accompanied by further or reduced benefits is undecided yet. Likewise, while low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering by statins has been shown to be associated with primary and secondary stroke prevention, whether more intense lowering is or is not of further benefit is unknown. The Stroke in Hypertension Optimal Treatment Trial (ESH-CHL-SHOT) is a factorial 3 x 2 arm, multicenter, randomized clinical trial designed to test the hypothesis that in elderly patients at high risk of recurrent stroke (previous recent stroke or TIA) antihypertensive treatment programs aimed at reducing SBP to the usually recommended values (< 145 to 135 mmHg), to a lower goal (< 135 to 125 mmHg) or to even lower values (< 125 mmHg) will result in progressively greater reductions in recurrent stroke, incidence of cardiovascular outcomes and cognitive decline. Parallely, the preventive efficacy of more and less intense LDL-C reductions will be tested on the same outcomes.

Currently, thrombolysis is offered to less than 1% of patients in low to middle income countries (LMICs) where access to health care is often based on the financial capabilities of the patient. There is therefore an urgent need for an effective but affordable alternative thrombolytic agent. Streptokinase (SK) ($35) is much more economically feasible as opposed to tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) ($2800). In this study, we propose a reevaluation of the use of streptokinase (SK) in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. We want to emphasize that we will only consider this as a 'treatment option' if we are absolutely certain that IV tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) will not be offered to the patient due to its high cost. It is hypothesized that treatment with SK in appropriately selected patients will be associated with a hemorrhagic transformation rate similar to that of tPA.

The Armeo Spring has proven its effectiveness in the rehabilitation of acute stroke patients. It neutralizes limb weight, enabling patients to use residual control in both arm and hand and to follow exercises guided by simulations of real-life challenges. The Armeo Spring incorporates wrist pronation and supination, allowing patients to enhance functional reaching patterns. Aim of the study is to compare the Armeo device with standard physiotherapy in chronic patients with acquired brain lesions. The result of the trial should show which treatment is more effective in the clinical practice. A significant better outcome of one arm should suggest to follow one treatment strategy more than the other.

STUDY QUESTIONS What is the real prevalence of platelet "resistance" to aspirin during the acute phase of stroke and after 3 months, and 1 year, as measured using different platelet function tests? Do all methods measure similar levels of resistance, or are some methods more sensitive than others? Does this resistance result in a worse clinical prognosis? Is this result independent of other variables? OBJECTIVES Hospital Phase (Acute Stroke) Determination, using various methods, of the prevalence of platelet hyperreactivity in patients treated with aspirin to treat ischemic stroke (acute phase) Comparison of different assessment methods and identification of the most accurate of these Identification of variables that correlate with platelet hyperreactivity Follow-up Phase Correlation between platelet hyperreactivity and important clinical outcomes at 12, 24, and 36 months Correlation between platelet hyperreactivity and death or dependency at hospital discharge, at 3, 12, 24, and 36 months (Modified Rankin Scale) Correlation between platelet hyperreactivity and recurrent stroke of any type Correlation between different methods for evaluating platelet functions and identification of the most accurate method Analysis of hyperreactivity over time THE STUDY The study will include 200 consecutive patients seen in the emergency department of a large, urban hospital (1500 inpatient beds) and diagnosed with stroke in the acute phase; these patients will be treated with aspirin for an undetermined period The investigators will not include patients who require full anticoagulation treatment, regardless of the cause Importantly, the analysis of primary and secondary outcomes will be carried out after blinding the examiner to the results of the platelet aggregation tests PLATELET TESTS Whole Blood Aggregometer, ChronoLog VerifyNow, Accumetrics PFA-100, Siemens Plateletworks, Helena Impact-R, Diamed Serum thromboxane B2

In order to observe the secondary preventive effect of the Dengzhanshengmai capsule on ischemic stroke, the investigators hold the large randomized control trial (RCT). 3143 subjects are included in 83 clinical research centers all over China. The subjects are randomly grouped into two groups. The basic therapy included antiplatelet aggregation, stroke health education, management of blood pressure, blood lipid and blood glucose, etc. The treating group will take the compound Chinese Medicine Deng Zhan Sheng Mai capsule and the contrast group will take the placebo for twelve months. Then all of the subjects are visited on the 30th, 90th, 180th, 360th day after inclusion. The recurrence of stroke, cardiovascular events, and peripheral arterial events are observed.

A patent foramen ovale (PFO) is found more frequently in patients with an ischemic stroke than in control subjects. Therapeutic options to prevent stroke recurrence include antiplatelet drugs, oral anticoagulants, and transcatheter closure of the foramen. However, there are no published studies showing convincingly the superiority of any one of these strategies in preventing stroke recurrence. The aim of this randomized clinical trial is to assess whether chronic anticoagulation on the one hand and transcatheter on the other hand are superior to chronic antiplatelet therapy in preventing stroke recurrence.

Stroke is a disease with tremendous individual, family, and societal impact. It is the number one cause of adult disability and third leading cause of death in the United States. Between now and the year 2050, the cost of stroke in the United States will exceed 2 trillion dollars. There is a tremendous ethnic disparity with respect to stroke in the United States. Mexican Americans are much more likely to have a stroke compared with European Americans. In Mexican Americans strokes occur at younger ages, are more likely to recur and have the same severity as they do in European Americans. Mexican Americans are the overwhelming largest sub-population of Hispanic Americans, the nation's largest minority group. This proposal, a scientifically-based rigorous behavioral education intervention trial, seeks to aggressively prevent stroke, especially in Mexican Americans. Faith and family are strong components of Mexican American culture. This project works with these positive fundamental elements in order to affect stroke prevention. This project will take place in Nueces County, Texas. The project investigators have worked in this community for the past 14 years and have published extensively regarding the stroke health disparity in this stable, non-immigrant community of Mexican Americans and European Americans. We have established a strong partnership with the Catholic Diocese of Corpus Christi and assembled a team with tremendous experience at successful health behavior intervention research. Together, a proposal has been crafted that will directly speak to aggressive stroke risk factor reduction in Mexican Americans and European Americans in this representative United States community. The significance of such research is tremendous. As the Mexican American population grows and ages, the stroke impact will be felt with greater and greater intensity. Now is the time to develop aggressive, scientifically tested interventions to limit the burden of this disease on this important segment of the United States population, and to reduce the costs of this disease to the country as a whole, in keeping with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) goal to "identify culturally appropriate, effective stroke prevention programs for nationwide implementation in minority communities" by FY2010.