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Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Nine Anti-Platelet Therapies for Patients with Ischemic Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack: a Mixed Treatment Comparisons

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Abstract

Anti-platelet treatments, an effective anti-thrombotic therapy, are widely used in non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), including aspirin, cilostazol, clopidogrel, and other mono or dual therapies, while the optimal choice remains uncertain. All the literatures of 38 eligible randomized control trials were searched in PubMed, Embase, and China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI) without language limitation. And, nine anti-platelet therapies were assessed, including aspirin, clopidogrel, cilostazol, ticlopidine, triflusal, terutroban, sarpogrelate, dipyridamole plus aspirin, and clopidogrel plus aspirin. Additionally, we extract data of composite vascular events, major bleeding, ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, and all-cause death, as indicators of efficacy and safety. And among them, composite vascular events were the primary outcome. The binary outcomes were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) with corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CIs). Both traditional meta-analysis and network meta-analysis were performed. Besides, for each outcome, the rank order was applied to reflect the superiority of every therapy compared with others, using the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA). A cluster analysis was also conducted. Through the network meta-analysis, the synthesized data shows that cilostazol performed best on composite vascular events compared with placebo (OR = 0.62, 95 % CI 0.46–0.83) and aspirin (OR = 0.71, 95 % CI 0.53–0.95). In terms of ischemic stroke, clopidogrel plus aspirin seems the optimal, and it has significant difference between placebo (OR = 0.53, 95 % CI 0.35–0.74) and aspirin (OR = 0.75, 95 % CI 0.61–0.95). Meanwhile, cilostazol is also the first rank in major bleeding, especially when it is in contrast to aspirin (OR = 0.13, 95 % CI 0.02–0.70) and clopidogrel plus aspirin (OR = 0.09, 95 % CI 0.01–0.50). There is no significant difference among these nine treatments and placebo, as to all-cause death and intracranial hemorrhage. According to the cluster analysis, cilostazol can be the best choice with comprehensive assessment of composite vascular events, ischemic stroke and major bleeding. Based on this network meta-analysis, cilostazol was recommended as the optimal choice with good performance in both efficacy and safety for patient with ischemic stroke or TIA among nine anti-platelet therapies.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian, China (2015J01467) and sponsored by Key Clinical Specialty Discipline Construction Program of Fujian, China.

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    1. Department of Neurology, Union Hospital of Fujian Medical University, 29 Xin-Quan Road, Fuzhou, 350001, Fujian, China

      Hua-Pin Huang, Wan-Hui Lin, Sheng-Gen Chen, Li-Zhen Chen & Min-Yi Chen

    2. Department of Neurology and Geriatrics, Union Hospital of Fujian Medical University, 29 Xin-Quan Road, Fuzhou, 350001, Fujian, China

      Chun-Hui Che

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    Figure S1

    A flow chart of literature selection process. (JPG 40 kb)

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    Figure S2

    Funnel plots of publication bias for (A) composite vascular events (B) all cause death (C) ischemic stroke (D) major bleeding (E) intracranial haemorrhage. A, Placebo; B, Aspirin; C, Cilostazol; D, Clopidogrel; E, Clopidogrel + Aspirin; F, Dipyridamole + Aspirin; G, Sarpogrelate; H, Terutroban; I, Ticlopidine; J, Triflusal (JPG 82 kb)

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    Huang, HP., Lin, WH., Chen, SG. et al. Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Nine Anti-Platelet Therapies for Patients with Ischemic Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack: a Mixed Treatment Comparisons. Mol Neurobiol 54, 1456–1466 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-016-9739-z

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