Novel medical treatment is more effective than brain stents for stroke prevention

For release: Saturday, October 26, 2013
NIH-funded study indicates that therapy combining medication and lifestyle changes is better than surgically implanted stents at preventing recurrent stroke
What:Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and is often the result of blood vessel narrowing due to buildup of cholesterol in brain blood vessels. A new report, published in Lancet, details long-term outcomes of a study that compared aggressive medical therapy with surgically implanted stents to open narrowed brain blood vessels for the prevention of stroke. This clinical trial was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health.
Patients who had recently experienced a stroke or a stroke warning sign due to stenosis of blood vessels inside the head were randomized to receive aggressive medical therapy alone (anti-clotting medications, control of risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol, and a lifestyle modification program) or aggressive medical therapy plus a brain stent (a mesh implant that keeps the affected blood vessel open). Enrollment in this study was stopped in April 2011, which was earlier than planned due to safety concerns after researchers found that stents were associated with a high risk of early stroke and death. In addition the stroke rate in those treated with aggressive medical therapy was lower than expected. Patients continued to be followed for two years to see if prior opening of the narrowed artery with a stent decreased long-term stroke risk.
The new 32-month analysis did not indicate that stenting provided a benefit over longer time periods in study participants. During the follow-up period, the rate of stroke was not lower in the group treated with a stent than in the group that received aggressive medical treatment alone. The authors noted that the novel medical approach consisting of combining anti-clotting medications, controlling risk factors and adopting a healthy lifestyle (exercise, smoking cessation, healthy diet) likely contributed to lower than expected rates of stroke. Of note in this trial, the percentage of treated patients who achieved normal blood pressure levels was 70% and 62% achieved normal lipid levels. These findings of lower stroke risk with aggressive medical management have important clinical implications for stroke prevention.
Article:Derdeyn et al. “Aggressive Medical Therapy With or Without Stenting in High-Risk Patients With Intracranial Artery Stenosis: Final Results of a Randomized Trial,” Lancet, October 26, 2013.
Who:Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D., NINDS Deputy Director and L. Scott Janis, Ph.D., NINDS Program Director, are available to discuss the results.
To schedule interviews with Dr. Koroshetz and Dr. Janis, please contact Barbara McMakin 301-496-5751, nindspressteam@ninds.nih.gov.
For more information about stroke, please visit: http://stroke.nih.gov

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NINDS (http://www.ninds.nih.gov) is the nation’s leading funder of research on the brain and nervous system. The NINDS mission is to reduce the burden of neurological disease – a burden borne by every age group, by every segment of society, by people all over the world.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

Last Modified October 28, 2013