The anti-inflammatory agent colchicine, started within 24 hours of acute ischemic stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA), was not associated with a reduction in subsequent strokes or other vascular events at 90 days in the CHANCE-3 trial.
The results were presented by Yongjun Wang, MD, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China, at the recent World Stroke Congress (WSC) 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Wang noted that inflammation may be a key factor involved in the residual risk for recurrent stroke, with data from previous CHANCE trials suggesting a higher stroke recurrence rate in patients with higher levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), a key marker of inflammation.
Low-dose colchicine, which acts as an anti-inflammatory agent, has recently been approved in many countries for patients with established atherosclerotic disease or multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease to reduce the risk for future cardiovascular events. This follows benefits seen in those populations in the LoDoCo-2 and COLCOT trials.
The CHANCE-3 study was conducted to evaluate whether similar benefits could be found in patients with acute ischemic stroke.
The trial involved 8369 Chinese patients with minor to moderate ischemic stroke (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score ≤ 5) or high-risk TIA (ABCD
