Alterations of plasma von Willebrand factor activity and the influence of anti-platelet drugs in acute cerebral infarction

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Stroke Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 252 - 258
• Main Authors: Nomura, Eiichi, Kohriyama, Tatsuo, Kozuka, Kazuko, Kajikawa, Hiroshi, Nakamura, Shigenobu, Matsumoto, Masayasu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: The Japan Stroke Society 2003
• Subjects: acute cerebral infarction; anti-platelet drug; cilostazol; stroke severity; von Willebrand factor
• ISSN: 0912-0726; 1883-1923
• DOI: 10.3995/jstroke.25.252

We studied the changes of von Willebrand Factor (vWf) activity after acute cerebral infarction (ACI) in order to identify differences in each subtype of ACI and to determine the relationship between the vWf activities and stroke severity. In addition, we investigated the influence of anti-platelet drugs on the vWf activities retrospectively. Eighty-three consecutive patients admitted to our hospital within 48 hours after the onset were enrolled. We diagnosed the patients as ACI by cranial CT and MRI, and classified them into 3 subtypes (atherothrombotic, cardioembolic and lacunar infarction) according to the classification of NINDS. The severity of ACI was evaluated by the Japan Stroke Scale (JSS), and the plasma vWf activities were determined both on admission and one month later. The patients showed significantly higher vWf activities on both ad-mission and after one month as compared to those in the controls. Furthcrmore, the vWf activities on admis-sion increased significantly over a month. There was no significant difference in sequential changes of vWf activities among the ACI subtypes. The severity of ACI was not associated with the vWf activities on admis-sion. The elevation of the vWf activities could be suppressed in the group of patients treated with cilostazol as compared to the other groups. We conclude that although the vWf activities were increased over one month in the patients with ACI, there was no significant difference among the ACI subtypes, and no relationship with the severity of ACI. The significance of the suppressive effect of cilostazol on the vWf activities in patients with ACI should be investigated in furthers studies.