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©2013 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
Secondary prevention of ischaemic stroke
Irene Volonghi, Alessandro Padovani, Paolo Costa, Andrea Morotti, Loris Poli, Alessandro Pezzini, Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Sperimentali, Clinica Neurologica, Università degli Studi di Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy
Elisabetta Del Zotto, U.O. di Recupero e Rieducazione Funzionale, IRCCS Fondazione Don Gnocchi, 20149 Rovato (Brescia), Italy
Alessia Giossi, U.O. Neurologia, Istituto Clinico Sant’Anna, 25127 Brescia, Italy
Author contributions: Volonghi I and Pezzini A contributed to manuscript conception, data acquisition, revision, and wrote the paper; Padovani A contributed to manuscript conception, data acquisition and critical revision for important intellectual content; Del Zotto E, Giossi A, Costa P, Morotti A and Poli L contributed to manuscript conception and data acquisition; All the authors gave approval to final version of the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Irene Volonghi, MD, Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Sperimentali, Clinica Neurologica, Università degli Studi di Brescia, P.le Spedali Civili 1, 25123 Brescia, Italy. irene.volonghi@hotmail.it
Telephone: +39-30-3384086 Fax: +39-30-3384086
Received: June 29, 2013
Revised: October 8, 2013
Accepted: October 17, 2013
Published online: December 28, 2013
Revised: October 8, 2013
Accepted: October 17, 2013
Published online: December 28, 2013
Core Tip
Core tip: Aggressive and combination treatments in the acute phase after transient ischaemic attack or minor stroke have been shown to be beneficial in few studies, but results of ongoing randomized trials are required. On the other side, in long-term prevention the most important innovation is the advent of new anticoagulant agents for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. Recent trials showed efficacy and safety of thrombin and factor Xa inhibitors, compared to vitamin K antagonists, whose use is hampered by several limitations. These new drugs will potentially increase the number of patients treated according to guidelines, thus preventing a remarkable proportion of strokes.