• Jordi Matías-Guiu, José M Ferro, José Alvarez-Sabín, Ferran Torres, M Dolores Jiménez, Aida Lago, Teresa Melo, and TACIP Investigators.
• Service of Neurology, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Spain. matias_jor@gva.es
• Stroke. 2003 Apr 1;34(4):840-8.

Background And PurposeThe efficacy of the antiplatelet agent triflusal for prevention of vascular events after stroke has been reported in a pilot study. However, there is a need to confirm those results in a larger study.MethodsWe performed a randomized, double-blind, multicenter study to test the efficacy of triflusal (600 mg/d) versus aspirin (325 mg/d) for prevention of vascular events in patients with stroke or transient ischemic attack (Triflusal versus Aspirin in Cerebral Infarction Prevention [TACIP]). We assessed a combined end point (incidence of nonfatal ischemic stroke, nonfatal acute myocardial infarction, or vascular death) as well as the incidence of these events separately and the incidence of major hemorrhage.ResultsOf 2113 patients, 1058 received triflusal and 1055 aspirin. The mean follow-up period was 30.1 months. The incidence of combined end point (13.1% for triflusal, 12.4% for aspirin) as well the survival analysis (hazard ratio [HR] for triflusal versus aspirin, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.85 to 1.38) showed no differences between groups. The incidence of nonfatal stroke (HR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.82 to 1.44), nonfatal acute myocardial infarction (HR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.46 to 1.98,) and vascular death (HR, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.75 to 1.96) was also similar. A significantly higher incidence of major hemorrhages in the aspirin group was recorded (HR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.28 to 0.82). The overall incidence of hemorrhage was significantly lower in the triflusal group (16.7% versus 25.2%) (odds ratio, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.86; P<0.001).ConclusionsThis study failed to show significantly superior efficacy of triflusal over aspirin in the long-term prevention of vascular events after stroke, but triflusal was associated with a significantly lower rate of hemorrhagic complications.

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