Efficacy of combined atorvastatin and argatroban therapy in acute cerebral infarction

Background: Acute cerebral infarction (ACI) is a disease which seriously affects the people's health. Objectives: To investigate the efficacy of combined atorvastatin and argatroban therapy in patients with ACI and its effects on cerebral hemodynamics, coagulation, endothelial function and inflammation. Methods: Eighty ACI patients were assigned into the atorvastatin group (n = 40) and atorvastatin + argatroban group (n = 40), which received the treatment using atorvastatin and atorvastatin combined with argatroban for one month, respectively. After treatment, the overall efficacy was evaluated. Before and after treatment, the cerebral blood flow indexes and blood indexes were determined. Results: Compared to the atorvastatin group, the atorvastatin + argatroban group showed the increased overall effective rate (95.00% vs. 80.00%, p < 0.05). In the atorvastatin + argatroban group the significant improvements were also observed in cerebral hemodynamics (increased mean blood flow quantity and velocity, decreased pulsatility index and resistance), coagulation function (prolonged prothrombin time, thrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time, reduced fibrinogen), endothelial function (increased nitric oxide and vascular endothelial growth factor, decreased endothelin-1) and inflammation (reduced hypersensitive C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor ? and interleukin 6) compared to the atorvastatin group (all p < 0.05). Conclusion: Atorvastatin combined with argatroban can effectively improve the cerebral hemodynamics, coagulation and endothelial function and reduce the inflammation in ACI patients, thus exerting a good therapeutic efficacy.