Effect of External Counter Pulsation on Ischemic Stroke

Stroke is a prevalent atherosclerosis vascular disease with high mortality, external counter pulsation (ECP) is an approved noninvasive therapy for angina, congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, and cardiogenic shock that augments blood flow to cardiac and systemic circuits, which improves the flow volume in the carotid. Though ECP is Ⅱa recommendation for stroke management, no multi-center control clinical study has been reported for prognosis of stroke. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of ECP on stoke. To address this assumption, investigators enroll subjects with ischemic stroke and randomized into control or ECP group, the ECP intervention will be carried out with a standard protocol which involves 35 one-hour sessions (5 days a week) for continuous 7 weeks. The primary endpoint is mRS score in 3 months, secondary endpoints include NIHSS, BI and MMSE score, recurrence of stroke in 3 months, glycolipid metabolism, transcranial doppler (TCD) flow velocities and endothelial function.