Drug treatment of stroke. Current status and future prospects.

Despite advances in the understanding of the mechanism of cerebral injury during focal ischaemia, the best treatment of cerebral ischaemia is still prevention. The pathophysiological mechanisms that contribute to cerebral ischaemia are discussed relative to the many therapeutic interventions that have been attempted. It is our impression that the treatment of such a complex multifactor process will require multimodal therapy, as most of the unifactorial therapies used to date have proven relatively unsuccessful in improving neurological outcome and survival.