Rationale: The evidence of intravenous thrombolysis in patients with not clearly disabling minor stroke (low National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale of 0-5) is still insufficient. Recent early terminated PRISMS trial could not provide definitive conclusion, although suggesting the similar functional outcome between alteplase and aspirin groups. Recent two clinical trials provide a definitive evidence for the superiority of dual antiplatelet to mono-antiplatelet in minor stroke. However, the efficacy and safety of dual antiplatelet vs. alteplase in the treatment of acute minor stroke are not known.
Aim: To explore the efficacy and safety of dual antiplatelet with aspirin and clopidogrel vs. alteplase in the treatment of acute minor stroke.
Sample size estimates: A maximum of 760 subjects are required to test the non-inferiority hypothesis with 80% power according to a one-sided 0.025 level of significance, stratified by age, diabetes, time from onset to treatment, stroke etiology, degree of vascular stenosis, location of index vessel.
Methods and design: ARAMIS is a prospective, randomized, open label, blinded assessment of endpoints (PROBE) and multicenter clinical trial in China. The subjects are randomized to the control arm (intravenous alteplase with standard dose of 0.9 mg/kg, followed by guideline-based treatment 24 h after thrombolysis) or the experiment arm (clopidogrel: loading dose of 300 mg on the first day, followed by 75 mg daily for 10-14 days; aspirin: 100 mg on the first day, followed by 100 mg daily for 10-14 days; after the combination, antiplatelet will be given based on guideline till 90 days).
Study outcome: The primary efficacy endpoint is favorable functional outcome, defined as a mRS 0-1 assessed at 90-day post-randomization.
Keywords: Acute stroke therapy; antiplatelet therapy; protocols; rtPA; stroke; treatment.