Therapeutic hypothermia and ischemic stroke

Currently, there are two main treatment strategies in treatment of ischemic stroke such as thrombolysis and neuroprotectiv therapy Only approved and effective therapy for ischemic stroke is thrombolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) which has certain limitations: short time window , haemorrhagic complications and complications associated with reperfusion. Therefore , less then 10% of all, patients with ischemic stroke can be treated with rt-PA. Neuroprotection after acute ischemic stroke entertain , reduces and stops harmful biochemical and molecular processes. Neuroprotectiv strategies focus on reduction of damage in penumbra , thereby improving outcome after ischemic stroke.Based on experimental data and clinical studies , therapeutic hypothermia is regarded as one of the most active ways of neuropritection. Therapeutic hypothermia is medical treatment that reduces the patient s body temperature in order to help to reduce the risk of ischemic tissue injury that occurs after a certain period of reduced blood flow. Clinical and experimental studies in acute stroke shows that there is an association between body temperature , severity of stroke , infarct volume and clinical outcome. Elevated body temperature is associated with adverse effects on injured brain tissue and with worse clinical outcome