non-rheumatic atrial fibrillation was a primary identifier within this study. It also showed that aspirin is not useful within this patient population. At the same time, the success which aspirin-aided therapy has achieved is thoroughly documented. Indicatively, blood clots exist as an important causal factor within the understanding of the relationship between stroke and the motor cortex of the brain. To this extent, it has even been suggested that aspirin be added to the water supply. As news accounts have stated, one preliminary report applies only to people with atrial fibrillation, an abnormality of the heart's rhythm. In this condition, the atria (the two small chambers of the heart) lose their ability to coordinate their contractions. Instead of squeezing rhythmically to help fill the ventricles, they quiver. Blood clots can form whenever blood flow stagnates. If a bit of clot gets broken off, it will then be carried like a projectile to the brain, where it can cause a stroke. Although atrial fibrillation can develop in young people, it is most commonly a result of arteriosclerosis in the elderly, and becomes an important cause of strokes as people reach their late 70's and 80's. To see whether anti-clotting agents can help this problem, five major studies have been started in the past few years. The focus of the research has been on warfarin which prevents clots from forming when blood stagnates inside a vein. Two studies have also included aspirin, although past experience has suggested that aspirin would not be particularly useful. The first to be reported, in Denmark, found that warfarin was protective, but that a baby aspirin a day had no effect on risk of stroke. Three others involving warfarin are still underway. Until they are completed, the jury remains out on this drug. The case for aspirin is so-far based only on a preliminary report from the "Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation Study," published in the New Engla...
