Flunarizine in acute ischemic stroke: a pilot study.
Twenty-six patients with acute supratentorial brain infarction were randomly allocated to double-blind intravenous treatment with the calcium entry blocker flunarizine (12 patients) or placebo (14 patients) within 24 h. CT scan excluded other significant pathology. Impaired consciousness and gaze deviation were more common in the placebo group. Three patients in the treated group (25%) were either dead or severely disabled after 6 months, whereas this occurred in 8 of the 14 (57%) control patients, a difference of 32%. This difference is not statistically significant and there is an uneven distribution of important prognostic variables, however, the confidence limits of the difference (-4% and +68%) suggest that there may be a clinically important effect.
Limburg
M
M
Department of Neurology, Academisch Medisch Centrum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Hijdra
A
A
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D005444:Flunarizine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D002546:Ischemic Attack, Transient / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D005444:Flunarizine