Background: Patients with ischemic stroke (IS) or TIA face an elevated cardiovascular risk, warranting intensive lipid-lowering therapy. Despite recommendations, adherence to guidelines is suboptimal, leading to frequent undertreatment. This study aims to evaluate the statin use after IS and TIA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The efficacy and safety of statins for secondary prevention in patients who have experienced a cardioembolic stroke are not well-defined. However, previous observational data reported hyperlipidemia as a risk factor for both ischemic and bleeding complications in patients with AF and previous stroke. Based on these premises, we conducted a sub-analysis of the RAF and RAF-NOAC studies to evaluate the efficacy and safety of statins in secondary prevention in patients with acute ischemic stroke and AF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdequate secondary prevention in survivors of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) who also have atrial fibrillation (AF) is a long-standing clinical dilemma because these patients are at increased risk of recurrent ICH as well as of ischemic stroke. The efficacy and safety of oral anticoagulation, the standard preventive medication for ischemic stroke patients with AF, in ICH patients with AF are uncertain. PRESTIGE-AF is an international, phase 3b, multi-center, randomized, open, blinded end-point assessment (PROBE) clinical trial that compared the efficacy and safety of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) with no DOAC (either no antithrombotic treatment or any antiplatelet drug).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Secondary stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the fastest growing areas in the field of cerebrovascular diseases. This Scientific statement from the World Stroke Organization Brain & Heart Task Force provides a critical analysis of the strength of current evidence this topic, highlights areas of current controversy, identifies knowledge gaps, and proposes priorities for future research.
Methods: We select topics with the highest clinical relevance and perform a systematic search to answer specific practical questions.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) remains the most common cardiac arrhythmia worldwide and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The European Society of Cardiology (ESC)/European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) have recently released the 2024 guidelines for the management of AF. This review highlights 10 novel aspects of the ESC/EACTS 2024 Guidelines.
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