Effect of the thrombin inhibitor argatroban in acute cerebral thrombosis

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Stroke Vol. 20; no. 6; pp. 662 - 668
• Main Authors: Uchimura, Koichi, Shimozuru, Tetsuro, Niiro, Masaki, Kadota, Koki, Kuratsu, Jun-ichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: The Japan Stroke Society 1998
• Subjects: Argatroban; Barthel Index; cerebral thrombosis
• ISSN: 0912-0726; 1883-1923
• DOI: 10.3995/jstroke.20.662

Effect of argatroban on neurological symptoms and activities of daily living (ADL) was evaluated in 68 acute cerebral thrombosis patients. Disturbance of consciousness and nurological symptoms improved significantly as a result of treatment with argatroban. ADL evaluated using the Barthel Index improved significantly from day 3 of treatment. Stratified analysis of ADL was conducted with respect to infarct region, time of starting treatment after onset, and types of cerebral thrombosis. For infarcts in the territory of deep perforators, ADL improved significantly from day 3 of treatment regardless of whether treatment started within 12 hours or more than 12 hours after onset. Cortical infarction improved significantly only when treatment started within 12 hours after onset. Both of lacunar and atherothrombotic infarction improved significantly from day 7 of treatment. The evaluation suggested that argatroban is useful for the treatment of acute cerebral thrombosis. In the case of cortical infarction, which results in severe ischemia and rapidly progresses from ischemic penumbra to infarction, it is important to start treatment with argatroban as soon as cerebral thrombosis is diagnosed.