Design, Progress and Challenges of a Double-Blind Trial of Warfarin versus Aspirin for Symptomatic Intracranial Arterial Stenosis

Background and Relevance: Atherosclerotic stenosis of the major intracranial arteries is an important cause of transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke. Of the 900,000 patients who suffer a TIA or stroke each year in the USA, intracranial stenosis is responsible for approximately 10%, i.e. 90,000 patients. There have been no prospective trials evaluating antithrombotic therapies for preventing recurrent vascular events in these patients. The …