Description

Ischaemic stroke is the leading cause of adult disability. Thus, a strategy based on an efficient antiplatelet therapy has been developed to prevent platelet activation occurring in the acute phase of non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke.

The biological monitoring of the antiplatelet therapy with available platelet function assays do not provide a global integrative approach considering all the mechanisms involved in platelet activation.

Platelet transmission electron microscopy recently validated for assessing distinct ultrastructural abnormalities is a reliable morphological platelet structural analysis tool.

Ultrastructural criteria could be identified and be useful for the assessment of the degree of platelet activation and thus the biological efficiency of antiplatelet agents. All the activation transduction signals are integrated and all antiplatelet agents can be assessed.

The aim of the pilot study is to collect all the ultrastructural platelet characteristics by transmission electron microscopy before and after the onset of an antiplatelet treatment in patients hospitalized for an ischemic stroke.

Investigators expect to identify ultrastructural characteristics that will be correlated with the platelet degree of activation to guide clinicians in decision-making regarding the antiplatelet therapy strategy.