Anesthetic drugs and sustained neuroprotection in acute cerebral ischemia: can we alter clinical outcomes?

摘要

Anesthetic drugs have been tested for their neuroprotective characteristics for decades because of their potential either to interrupt or to slow the sequence of injurious biochemical and molecular events that ultimately result in irreversible neuronal death. Unfortunately, clinical trials examining the neuroprotective effects of anesthetic agents have failed to translate the experimental evidence.' The purpose of this editorial is to consider the current stage of knowledge regarding anesthetic neuroprotection in the context of identifying future directions for this important field of research.