Can Early Effective Anticoagulation Prevent New Lesions on Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Acute Cardioembolic Stroke?

Background: The timing of warfarin administration for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with atrial fibrillation (Af) has not been established. We hypothesized that achieving targeted prothrombin time and international normalized ratio (PT-INR) at 2 weeks could prevent AIS patients with Af from developing a new lesion on diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI).Methods: Of consecutively enrolled AIS patients with Af between 2008 and 2011, we selected the patients who were given warfarin within 2 weeks of admission and had DW-MRI and blood test for PT-INR both on admission and at 2 weeks. Warfarin was started as early as possible and heparin was administered until the targeted PT-INR (2.0-3.0 for patients aged
Source: Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research