Standards in neurosonology. Part II

The Prognostic Value of High Platelet Reactivity in Ischemic Stroke Depends on the Etiology: A Pilot Study

Background: Reduced aspirin response may result in a worse prognosis and a poor clinical outcome in ischemic stroke. The aim of this prospective pilot study was to assess the relationship between platelet reactivity and early and late prognosis, and the clinical and functional status in ischemic stroke, with the role of stroke etiology. Methods: The study involved 69 subjects with ischemic stroke, divided into large and small vessel etiological subgroups. Platelet function testing was performed with two aggregometric methods—impedance and optical—while the clinical condition was assessed using the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and the functional status was assessed using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) on the first and eighth day (early prognosis) and the 90th day of stroke (late prognosis). Results: The initial platelet reactivity was found to be higher in patients with severe neurological deficits on the 90th day after stroke, than in the group with mild neurological deficits (median, respectively, 40 area under the curve (AUC) units vs. 25 AUC units, p = 0.033). In the large vessel disease group, a significant correlation between the platelet reactivity and the functional status on the first day of stroke was found (correlation coefficient (R) = 0.4526; p = 0.0451), the platelet reactivity was higher in the subgroup with a severe clinical condition compared to a mild clinical condition on the first day of stroke (p = 0.0372), and patients resistant to acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) had a significantly greater possibility of a severe neurological deficit on the first day of stroke compared to those who were sensitive to aspirin (odds ratio (OR) = 14.00, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25–156.12, p = 0.0322). Conclusion: High on-treatment platelet reactivity in ischemic stroke was associated with a worse late prognosis regardless of the etiology. We demonstrated a significant relationship between high platelet reactivity and worse early prognosis and poor clinical and functional condition in the large vessel etiologic subgroup. However, due to the pilot nature of this study, its results should be interpreted with caution and further validation on a larger cohort is required.

High On-Treatment Platelet Reactivity Affects the Extent of Ischemic Lesions in Stroke Patients Due to Large-Vessel Disease

Background: Excessive platelet activation and aggregation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke. Correlation between platelet reactivity and ischemic lesions in the brain shows contradictory results and there are not enough data about the potential role of stroke etiology and its relationships with chronic lesions. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between platelet reactivity and the extent of ischemic lesions with the particular role of etiopathogenesis. Methods: The study involved 69 patients with ischemic stroke, including 20 patients with large-vessel disease and 49 patients with small-vessel disease. Evaluation of platelet reactivity was performed within 24 h after the onset of stroke using two aggregometric methods (impedance and optical), while ischemic volume measurement in the brain was performed using magnetic resonance imaging (in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequences) at day 2–5 after the onset of stroke. Results: In the large-vessel disease subgroup, a correlation was found between platelet reactivity and acute ischemic focus volume (correlation coefficient (R) = 0.6858 and p = 0.0068 for DWI; R = 0.6064 and p = 0.0215 for FLAIR). Aspirin-resistant subjects were significantly more likely to have a large ischemic focus (Odds Ratio (OR) = 45.00, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.49–135.36, p = 0.0285 for DWI; OR = 28.00, 95% CI = 1.35–58.59, p = 0.0312 for FLAIR) than aspirin-sensitive subjects with large-vessel disease. Conclusion: In patients with ischemic stroke due to large-vessel disease, high on-treatment platelet reactivity affects the extent of acute and chronic ischemic lesions.