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Neuroprotection in Neuroanesthesia and Neurocritical Care

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Challenging Topics in Neuroanesthesia and Neurocritical Care

Abstract

Providing neuroprotection to reduce secondary brain injury after neurological surgery and after an acute neurological insult is the primary goal of neuroanesthesia and neurocritical care. While several pharmacological and nonpharmacological agents have provided much promise in preclinical animal models of neurological injury, there is no single agent that has been unequivocally proven to provide neuroprotection in human patients. In this chapter, we review the recent clinical studies that demonstrate the evidence for and against several agents that have been investigated in the context of perioperative neuroprotection after neurological surgery and after acute neurological insults including stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Several therapeutic agents have been shown to provide neuroprotection in specific injuries or patient populations, and the plethora of agents that have yielded promising results in preclinical studies justifies the enormous time and expense that is necessary to conduct large-scale clinical trials.

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Correspondence to Federico Bilotta MD, PhD .

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Gruenbaum, S.E., Bilotta, F. (2017). Neuroprotection in Neuroanesthesia and Neurocritical Care. In: Khan, Z. (eds) Challenging Topics in Neuroanesthesia and Neurocritical Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41445-4_26

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