Neuroprotection for Acute Ischemic Stroke : An Overview

The introduction of thrombolytic therapy has not only injected fresh optimism in stroke management, but has also given a fillip to stroke research, and spurred a number of clinical trials in stroke therapy aimed at salvaging potentially viable ischemic brain tissue. Though a large number of neuroprotective drugs are successful in experimental animal models they have not translated to effective clinical therapy due to a variety of reasons. This has led to a lot of introspection on the methodologic issues in stroke trials and also led to better understanding of ischemic brain damage. It may be realistic to expect that the advances in understanding would evolve into effective neuroprotective therapies in the future.