Major grant for Maltese doctor to study stroke prevention

A Maltese doctor has been awarded a major grant to study the prevention of stroke in patients with heart failure.

Dr Patrick Pullicino, Professor and Chair of Neurosciences at the New Jersey Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, is the initiator and clinical principal investigator of the Warfarin versus Aspirin in Reduced Cardiac Ejection Fraction (WARCEF) study.

This $31 million study has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the major federal grant funding body in the United States.

The aim of the study is to determine which of two blood thinners, aspirin or warfarin, is better for preventing stroke and death in patients who have poor heart function due to any cause.

2,860 patients will be enrolled into the study at 70 centres throughout the US and Canada and the study is planned to last five years.

"The study will help to define the optimal antithrombotic (blood thinner) therapy for patients with heart failure and poor heart function.

"The number of people with heart failure is rapidly increasing, especially among the elderly. Heart failure carries with it a considerable risk of death and a risk of stroke. The correct blood thinner treatment has the potential of preventing thousands of strokes and deaths," Dr Pullicino said.

Enrolment in the study is planned to start early next month.

Dr Pullicino obtained his MD degree from the University of Malta and worked as a consultant physician and neurologist at St Luke's Hospital, Guardamanga between 1984 and 1989.