Almost Half of Stroke Patients May Be Aspirin Resistant
 (Vancouver, Reuters Health, 6/25/04)

Dr. Mark Alberts, of Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, and team, studied 59 patients who had been taking aspirin for three or more days prior to suffering a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). The investigators tested the clotting time of blood samples at the hospital before the patients were treated with any other anti-clotting agents. The researchers found that almost half of the subjects showed clotting times of 171 seconds or less, indicating aspirin-resistance, which was more common in patients taking low-dose and/or enteric-coated aspirins. These findings suggest that healthcare providers must tailor anti-platelet therapy to individual needs.