Efficacy and Safety of Prasugrel by Stroke Subtype: A Sub-Analysis of the PRASTRO-I Randomized Controlled Trial

The efficacy of antiplatelet therapy may vary among different disease subtypes. Prasugrel is generally a more potent, consistent, and fast-acting platelet inhibitor than clopidogrel. This sub-analysis of the phase III comparison of PRAsugrel and clopidogrel in Japanese patients with ischemic STROke (PRASTRO-I) trial aimed to assess the differences in efficacy of these treatments for each stroke subtype.

In the PRASTRO-I trial, a total of 3,753 patients with ischemic stroke were recruited from 224 centers throughout Japan and randomized (1:1) to prasugrel (3.75 mg/day) or clopidogrel (75 mg/day) for 96 weeks. For the sub-analysis, strokes were classified as large-artery atherosclerosis, small-artery occlusion (lacunar), stroke of other etiology, and stroke of undetermined etiology. The cumulative incidence of primary events (ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and death from other vascular cause) and hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated for each subgroup.

For patients with large-artery atherosclerosis, the primary event incidence was 3.8% in the prasugrel group and 4.8% in the clopidogrel group (HR 0.79; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.45-1.41). For patients with small-artery occlusion, the incidence was 3.3% in the prasugrel group and 3.9% in the clopidogrel group (HR 0.82; 95% CI 0.45-1.50). For patients with stroke of undetermined etiology, the incidence was 4.6% in the prasugrel group and 3.0% in the clopidogrel group (HR 1.56; 95% CI 0.90-2.72). The incidence of bleeding was similar across subtypes.

Although statistical significance was not reached, the efficacy of prasugrel was potentially different between stroke subtypes, warranting further studies.