Emerging Therapy Critiques

AHA: 11/8/12

The term ictus, used medically to denote a stroke or seizure, is a Latin word meaning “a blow.” Unfortunately, this definition is also an appropriate descriptor of the International Citicoline Trial on Acute Stroke (ICTUS)¹—its results are another blow to the search for a safe and effective pharmacological approach for augmenting the clinical benefit of acute reperfusion therapy in patients with ischemic stroke or improving outcomes for those who cannot be recanalized. This carefully designed and conducted, multicenter, double-blind, randomized trial found that, “citicoline is not efficacious in the treatment of moderate-to-severe acute ischemic stroke,” (primary outcome for intention-to treat with citicoline based on a global outcome statistic including the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, modified Rankin score, and Barthel index; odds ratio, OR=1.03, 95% CI, 0.86–1.25). Read more