ESPRIT: European/Australasian Stroke Prevention in Reversible Ischaemia Trial

Summary

The objective of ESPRIT was to compare the efficacy and safety of mild anticoagulation or a combination treatment of aspirin and dipyridamole with the efficacy and safety of treatment with aspirin alone after cerebral ischemia of arterial origin.

Timeline

Start

1997-07

Primary completion

—

Completion

2006-12

Outcome

Mixed primary results

paper Primary outcome events arose in 173 (13%) patients on aspirin and dipyridamole and in 216 (16%) on aspirin alone (hazard ratio 0.80, 95% CI 0.66-0.98; PMID 16714187 ↗

paper A primary outcome event occurred in 99 (19%) patients on anticoagulants and in 98 (18%) patients on aspirin (hazard ratio [HR] 1.02, 95% CI 0.77-1.35). PMID 17239798 ↗

Publications

• Results ESPRIT Study Group; Halkes PH, van Gijn J, Kappelle LJ, Koudstaal PJ, Algra A. Aspirin plus dipyridamole versus aspirin alone after cerebral ischaemia of arterial origin (ESPRIT): randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2006 May 20;367(9523):1665-73. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68734-5.
• Results ESPRIT Study Group; Halkes PH, van Gijn J, Kappelle LJ, Koudstaal PJ, Algra A. Medium intensity oral anticoagulants versus aspirin after cerebral ischaemia of arterial origin (ESPRIT): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Neurol. 2007 Feb;6(2):115-24. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(06)70685-8.
• Narasimhalu K, Ang S, De Silva DA, Wong MC, Chang HM, Chia KS, Auchus AP, Chen CP. The prognostic effects of poststroke cognitive impairment no dementia and domain-specific cognitive impairments in nondisabled ischemic stroke patients. Stroke. 2011 Apr;42(4):883-8. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.110.594671. Epub 2011 Feb 17.

Drugs

Evaluation	Drug	Modality	Dose	Route
Subject	Aspirin	Small molecule	30 mg	—
Subject	Aspirin	Small molecule	325 mg	—
Subject	Dipyridamole	Other / unclassified	200 mg	—

Indications