Figure 1.

Theoretical interplay between therapeutic hypothermia and acute ischemic stroke. This figure summarizes the primary pathways by which acute ischemic stroke damages the brain parenchyma, resulting in functional deficits for stroke patients. Animal models of therapeutic hypothermia have demonstrated a significant benefit regarding stroke therapy, as indicated by inhibitory arrows in the figure. However, the mechanistic benefits of therapeutic hypothermia have not been investigated in clinical trials. Red boxes indicate related processes that occur during the acute ischemic stroke process. Blue boxes indicate factors related to therapeutic hypothermia. Inhibitory arrows indicate processes in which therapeutic hypothermia has shown efficacy in animal models