Combined ASA and Plavix in setting of Acute Stroke

This morning we talked about the evidence behind dual therapy with ASA and plavix in the setting of acute stroke.

A large study called the MATCH trial, with over 7500 patients, did not find any benefic with the combined use of aspirin and clopidogrel but found significant increase in the risk of bleeding complications.


The FASTER trial, a much smaller study with 392 patients with TIA or mild stroke, compared either aspirin plus clopidogrel (300 mg loading dose, then 75 mg daily) or aspirin alone. The trial ended prematurely due to slow recruitment. At 90 days, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups but a trend toward decreased primary outcome measure of combined ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke (7.1 versus 10.8 percent).