Clinical study of tirofiban compared to low molecular weight heparin in the antithrombotic treatment of progressive pontine infarction

Q. Zhou, L.-E. Xu, L.-L. Lin, X.-R. Huang, W.-Z. Chi, J. Lin, P. Lin

Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China. linping5613@163.com

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• Neurology

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy and safety of tirofiban and low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) in the treatment of patients undergoing acute progressive pontine infarction.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with acute progressive pontine infarction who were hospitalized in the Neurology Department from June 2021 to June 2023 were included in the study and randomly divided into two groups, namely the experimental group (tirofiban group) and the control group (LMWH group). All patients in both groups were required to receive conventional comprehensive treatment and dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin + clopidogrel at the beginning of admission. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score and Barthel Index (BI) were used to evaluate the neurological deficits on the first day of admission, the next day with stroke progression, and at discharge after treatment with tirofiban and LMWH, respectively in the two groups. The modified Rankin Scale was employed to assess prognosis on the 90th day after treatment. Clinical adverse events were followed up for 90 days, comparing the clinical efficacy and safety of the two treatment methods.

RESULTS: There was no statistical significance in NIHSS score and Barthel Index between the tirofiban group and the LMWH group on the first day of admission and the next day with stroke progression (p > 0.05). After stroke progression, tirofiban and LMWH were separately used for treatment in the two groups. We found that the NIHSS score of the tirofiban group was lower than that of the LMWH group, and the Barthel Index score was higher than that of the LMWH group at discharge (p < 0.05). After three months of follow-up, the mRS score of the tirofiban group was dramatically higher than that of the LMWH group (p < 0.05). No significant harmful or adverse reactions, such as bleeding events, were found in the two groups (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Tirofiban may be more effective and safer than LMWH in controlling the progression of acute pontine infarction, but further and large-sample studies are still needed to confirm this finding.

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