Treatment program and comparison between anticoagulants and platelet aggregation inhibitors after transient ischemic attack.

Transient cerebral ischemic attacks (TIA) are an important warning symptom of threatening stroke from cerebral infarction (CI). A local treatment program aimed at identifying as many individuals with TIA as possible and treating them in a uniform manner is desirable. Platelet aggregation inhibitors with a combination of acetylsalicylic acid and dipyridamole (ASA + DP) has been compared with anticoagulants (AC). The average length of treatment was 24 months and all patients received the treatment for at least 6 months. Sixty patients received AC and 65 ASA + DP. Four patients in the ASA + DP group (6 percent) and 2 in the AC group (3.3 percent) sustained cerebral infarction. These figures are essentially lower than the expected incidence of 15--20 percent.