Administration of cilostazol, an antiplatelet, to patients with acute-stage cerebral infarction and its effects on plasma substance P level and latent time of swallowing reflex

What Was Tested

This clinical trial looks at Substance P.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 20 patients were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

At the start of treatment, the subjects were assigned at random to those given aspirin alone (non-cilo group) and those given aspirin plus cilo (cilo group).

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and pilot study.

The patients were allocated by chance, so the Substance P group and the comparison group should start out alike.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Substance P study would be practical.

Plasma substance P levels and LTSR values were measured at the starting point (baseline), 28 days after, and 180 days after.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Acute Disease, Cerebral Infarction, Cilostazol, Deglutition, Pilot Projects, Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors and Reflex.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and pilot study of Substance P in 20 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2013 (Journal of Nippon Medical School = Nippon Ika Daigaku zasshi), a journal based in Japan.

More context: the Substance P compound page, all human trials.