TCTMD: Study finds drug provides no benefit during thrombectomy

New results from a randomized clinical trial found that administering a blood thinning drug before treatment for certain patients with strokes did not improve outcomes.

Researchers tested the effectiveness of the drug tirofiban given before endovascular thrombectomies, a minimally invasive procedure that uses a catheter to remove a blood clot from a blood vessel in the brain, for patients with acute ischemic strokes.

The findings of the study did not support the use of the drug before endovascular thrombectomy procedures. 

Joseph Broderick, MD, professor in UC’s Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine in the College of Medicine, director of the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute and a UC Health physician, was not involved in the study, but provided analysis to TCTMD.

Broderick said he agreed with the study's conclusions, but added there is still value in continuing research into additional therapies during thrombectomy procedures.

"The best use and which populations benefit the most is still an open question,” Broderick told TCTMD. “I think it’s still a fruitful ground for additional treatments, but it also points that maybe we should talk about standardizing or minimizing some of the things like heparin based upon the MR CLEAN-MED study that was reported earlier.” 

Read the TCTMD article.

Featured photo at top of Dr. Broderick. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II/University of Cincinnati