
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 23, 1991                   TAG: 9102230008
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO                                LENGTH: Short

DRUGS CUT STROKE RISK

Aspirin and a common blood-thinning drug may be able to prevent strokes in as many as 75,000 Americans a year, studies show.

The blood-thinner cut the risk of stroke by 67 percent, said Dr. Roger Kelley, a neurologist at the University of Miami. Aspirin, which also has blood-thinning or anti-clotting properties, cut the risk by 42 percent, he said.

In separate studies, researchers in Boston and Canada found similar results with the blood-thinning drug warfarin, used for such conditions as phlebitis.

The Boston study and the study Kelley was part of showed such dramatic results that they were abruptly halted because doctors decided it would be unethical to continue denying the drugs to subjects in the control group.

The Canadian study was then stopped in the wake of that decision, he said.

Dr. Melvin Cheitlin, a cardiologist at the University of California at San Francisco, praised the studies but said more research is needed to determine the appropriate doses of warfarin or aspirin and the length of time they should be given. - Associated Press

by CNB