READ MORE: National Institutes of Health : "The results of a new study suggest that the use of drugs that prevent blood clotting, such as aspirin, does not raise the risk of repeat bleeding in patients who've have bleeding in the brain, a problem called intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).
However, until more evidence becomes available, anticlotting treatment should be considered only in selected ICH survivors who have a high risk of clotting problems, the researchers advise.
The study included 207 patients with ICH who had been treated at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston between 1994 and 2004 and interviewed three and six months after they had an ICH and every six months thereafter.
Dr. E. E. Smith and colleagues report in the medical journal Neurology that 46 of the subjects began using aspirin, or in one case a similar drug called clopidogrel, during follow-up. Reasons for using these drugs included heart disease and stroke-related problems."