Use of antithrombotics after hemorrhagic transformation in acute ischemic stroke

There have been neither appropriate guidelines nor clinical studies about the use of antithrombotics after hemorrhagic transformation (HT). We sought to find whether the use of antithrombotics after hemorrhagic infarction might be associated with aggravation of HT and neurological deterioration.

This retrospective study included prospectively registered consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke and HT in our tertiary stroke center. We focused on the hemorrhagic infarction. Aggravation of HT was defined as either enlargement of the original HT or newly developed HT within the infarcted area by visual analysis. We analyzed relationships between antithrombotics and HT, and neurological deterioration after HT in patients with hemorrhagic infarction. In addition, we assessed composite outcomes including neurological deterioration, vascular events, and death at 1 month after HT. We analyzed relationships between antithrombotics after discharge and composite outcomes within 1 month after HT.

222 patients were finally analyzed. Of the 150 patients with hemorrhagic infarction, 75 (50.0%) were type 1. The use of warfarin after detection of hemorrhagic infarction more frequently increased aggravation of HT than did the use of antiplatelets (4 of 24 vs 3 of 69; p = 0.094), but neither warfarin nor antiplatelets caused more HT than no medication. In addition, the use of antithrombotics after hemorrhagic infarction was not significantly associated with neurological deterioration after HT. The frequency of composite events at 1 months was significantly lower in patients treated with antithrombotics than those treated without (p = 0.041).

In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that antithrombotics can safely be used after hemorrhagic infarction and may not be associated with neurological deterioration and aggravation of HT. Further studies are needed to confirm our results.