Zm. Chen et al., CAST - RANDOMIZED PLACEBO-CONTROLLED TRIAL OF EARLY ASPIRIN USE IN 20000 PATIENTS WITH ACUTE ISCHEMIC STROKE, Lancet, 349(9066), 1997, pp. 1641-1649
Background Aspirin is effective in the treatment of acute myocardial i
nfarction and in the long-term prevention of serious vascular events i
n survivors of stroke and myocardial infarction. There is, however, no
reliable evidence on the effectiveness of early aspirin use in acute
ischaemic stroke. Methods The Chinese Acute Stroke Trial (CAST) was a
large randomised, placebo-controlled trial of the effects in hospital
of aspirin treatment (160 mg/day) started within 48 h of the onset of
suspected acute ischaemic stroke and continued in hospital for up to 4
weeks. The primary endpoints were death from any cause during the 4-w
eek treatment period and death or dependence at discharge, and the ana
lyses were by intention to treat. 21 106 patients with acute ischaemic
stroke were enrolled in 413 Chinese hospitals at a mean of 25 h after
the onset of symptoms (10 554 aspirin, 10 552 placebo). 87% had a CT
scan before randomisation. It was prospectively planned that the resul
ts would be analysed in parallel with those of the concurrent Internat
ional Stroke Trial (IST) of 20 000 patients with acute stroke from oth
er countries. Findings There was a significant 14% (SD 7) proportional
reduction in mortality during the scheduled treatment period (343 [3.
3%] deaths among aspirin-allocated patients vs 398 [3.9%] deaths among
placebo-allocated patients; 2p=0.04). There were significantly fewer
recurrent ischaemic strokes in the aspirin-allocated than in the place
bo-allocated group (167 [1.6%] vs 215 [2.1%]; 2p=0.01) but slightly mo
re haemorrhagic strokes (115 [1.1%] vs 93 [0.9%]; 2p>0.1). For the com
bined in-hospital endpoint of death or non-fatal stroke at 4 weeks, th
ere was a 12% (6) proportional risk reduction with aspirin (545 [5.3%]
vs 614 [5.9%]; 2p=0.03), an absolute difference of 6.8 (3.2) fewer ca
ses per 1000. At discharge, 3153 (30.5%) aspirin-allocated patients an
d 3266 (31.6%) placebo-allocated patients were dead or dependent, corr
esponding to 11.4 (6.4) fewer per 1000 in favour of aspirin (2p=0.08).
Interpretation There are two major trials of aspirin in acute ischaem
ic stroke. Taken together, CAST and the similarly large IST show relia
bly that aspirin started early in hospital produces a small but defini
te net benefit, with about 9 (SD 3) fewer deaths or non-fatal strokes
per 1000 in the first few weeks (2p=0.001), and with 13 (5) fewer dead
or dependent per 1000 after some weeks or months of followup (2p<0.01
).