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Brian Vastag

JAMA. 2001;285:2966.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Because 60% of patients who have an ischemic stroke have a recurrence within 2 years, physicians generally prescribe an anticoagulant, the most common being aspirin or warfarin. A large head-to-head study, reported at the May meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), shows that the two drugs perform equally well in reducing recurrence.

However, because warfarin is more difficult to prescribe and more expensive, the findings will result in the gradual abandonment of warfarin for these patients, said Vladimir Hachinski, MD, of the University of Western Ontario, London.

Funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the 47-center Warfarin-Aspirin Recurrent Stroke Study (WARSS) followed up 2206 patients for 2 years. Within 30 days of their first stroke, patients were randomized to receive aspirin (325 mg/d) or warfarin (in dosages sufficient to maintain an International Normalized Ratio of 1.4 to 2.8). Patients with cardioembolic strokes were . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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