[Platelets, atherothrombosis, antiplatelet drugs and cerebral ischemia].

Platelets play a much more important role in myocardial ischemia than in cerebral ischemia, because atherothrombosis - the underlying cause of the vast majority of myocardial infarcts - is responsible for only 25-30% of cerebral infarcts. Aspirin is the only effective antiplatelet drug for primary prevention of ischemic events, especially those affecting the heart. For secondary prevention of cerebral infarction, clopidogrel and the combination of aspirin with extended-release dipyridamole are both marginally better than aspirin alone, but aspirin remains the gold standard worldwide because of its remarkable cost/benefit/tolerability ratio. The clopidogrel-aspirin combination is to be avoided because of the risk of hemorrhage, particularly in the brain and gastrointestinal tract. Revascularization strategies and the choice of antiplatelet drugs for the acute phase of myocardial and cerebral ischemia are very different, consisting of endovascular treatment and aggressive platelet inhibition for coronary infarcts, versus intravenous thrombolysis and / or aspirin for cerebral infarcts. None of the new antiplatelet drugs used in acute coronary syndromes has so far been studied in acute cerebral ischemia.