Ancrod for Acute Ischemic Stroke: A New Dosing Regimen Derived from Analysis of Prior Ancrod Stroke Studies

Background Ancrod, a fibrinogen-reducing agent, has been evaluated as treatment beginning within 3 or 6 hours of onset of acute ischemic stroke with inconsistent results. The data sets from these studies provide an opportunity to determine whether ancrod-related variables are associated with efficacy and safety. Objective This post hoc analysis of data from the Stroke Treatment with Ancrod Trial (STAT) analyzed ancrod-related variables as potential determinants of efficacy or safety. The resulting hypotheses were then tested in the European STAT (ESTAT) database. Methods The relationships between ancrod-related variables and the outcomes of efficacy and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) were analyzed using a 3-stage multivariate process. Results Good clinical outcome at 3 months based on the Barthel Index occurred almost twice as often in rapid defibrinogenators (≥30 mg/dL/h) (52%) as in slow defibrinogenators (26%), with no increase in mortality or symptomatic ICH. Compared with a 20.7% incidence of symptomatic ICH in patients with mean post–9-hour fibrinogen levels less than or equal to 60 mg/dL, symptomatic ICH incidence was 0.8% in those with mean levels greater than 60 mg/dL (with no loss of efficacy). There were no symptomatic ICHs among 220 North American patients with mean levels greater than 70 mg/dL. It was hypothesized that an initial controlled rapid ancrod infusion with mean post-9-hour fibrinogen levels greater than 70 mg/dL would yield superior efficacy and safety. Such ESTAT patients had statistically significant efficacy versus placebo and a marked reduction in the incidence of symptomatic ICH versus patients taking ancrod with lower maintenance fibrinogen levels. Conclusion Modifications to ancrod dosing may substantially improve efficacy while reducing the rate of symptomatic ICH.