Design: Multi-center, randomized, double-blind, active control, titrated dose, non-inferiority trial
Population Studied: We will prospectively recruit 250 hypertensive patients who had ischemic stroke 2 or more weeks previously and were admitted at 7 centers in the Seoul metropolitan area in South Korea.
Interventions: After a 2-week washout period, all patients will undergo baseline 99mTc-HMPAO single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), blood pressure evaluation, NIHSS examination, and laboratory test prior to treatment. The patients will be randomized to receive either cilnidipine 10-20mg or losartan 50-100mg once daily for 4 weeks with a target systolic blood pressure of \< 140mmHg and diastolic blood pressure of \< 90mmHg. After 4-week treatment, all patients will receive follow-up SPECT and blood pressure evaluation. For the quantitative CBF analysis, SPECT will be performed with a single machine in one center.
Outcome Measures: Primary outcome measure is the percentile change of global CBF on SPECT between pre- and post-treatments. Secondary outcome measures include the percentile change of regional CBF, the proportion of patients less than 8.6% decrease of global CBF, and the change of NIHSS score.
