Cerebral protection in traumatic brain injury

With advances in the understanding of the pathophysiology of traumatic brain injury, many novel cerebroprotective measures have been developed. Many of them have undergone preclinical trials and have shown promising results, but the results have not translated into clinical benefits. Evidence of these cerebroprotective measures including NMDA-receptor antagonist, steroids, free radial scavengers, nimodipine, ziconotide, bradykinin receptor antagonist and dexanabinol has been reviewed. Problems encountered in clinical studies of traumatic brain injury are mainly related to the heterogenicity of traumatic brain injury and the design of clinical studies. Given all these difficulties, clear benefit of these measures cannot be shown and an optimum treatment strategy has yet been developed. © 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.link_to_subscribed_fulltex