Dabigatran Versus Conventional Treatment for Prevention of Silent Cerebral Infarct in Atrial Fibrillation Associated With Valvular Disease

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2020-10-01

Summary

The prevalence of AF, which is tachyarrhythmia, is approximately 2% of the entire population and 5% of the population at the age of 60 or older. AF is the cause of approximately 20% of all events of ischemic stroke, and patients with AF are known to be at 6 to 10% risk of ischemic stroke per year. Patients with valvular AF are known to have a higher incidence of stroke than patients with nonvalvular AF. However, the relevant data are insufficient as large randomized studies comparing NOAC treatment with warfarin, a conventional treatment, did not include many patients with moderate and severe valvular AF.

Ischemic stroke is divided into symptomatic stroke with brain lesions on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and silent cerebral infarct with lesions on brain MRI but without stroke symptoms. According to a brain MRI follow-up study, the incidence of silent cerebral infarct was 17.7% (254 subjects) over a period of 5 years, with 11.4% of 254 subjects reporting to have experienced symptoms. This means that the incidence of silent cerebral infarct is approximately 9 times that of symptomatic stroke. In addition, patients with a history of silent cerebral infarct are known to be approximately twice more likely to experience stroke in the future than those without a history of silent. Brain microbleed is easily detected by brain MRI and is a well-known independent predictor of intraparenchymal hemorrhage and silent cerebral infarct. The prevention of stroke by the study drug can be indirectly assessed based on the incidence of silent cerebral infarct and brain microbleed on brain MRI. Investigators tried to compare effect of dabigatran with conventional treatment in terms of prevention of stroke by comparing incidences of silent cerebral infarct and brain microbleed and symptomatic stroke using brain MRI.

• Phase: Phase 4

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Asan Medical Center
• Collaborator: Boehringer Ingelheim
• Treatments: Aspirin; Dabigatran; Warfarin