Therapeutic implications of hypothermic and hyperthermic temperature conditions in stroke patients

Brain temperature is an important variable in determining the outcome of ce rebral ischemia; increases in core temperature escalate neural damage where as decreases in core temperature reduce damage. Fever induction often occur s in patients prior to or as a direct or indirect result of the ischemic in sult, with a worsened stroke outcome, compared with non-febrile ischemic pa tients. Most importantly, post-ischemic hypothermia reduces long term neura l damage and associated behavioral deficits in animals studied for up to a year after the ischemic insult. This review discusses the importance of mon itoring the brain temperature of stroke patients and implemention of therap eutic thermoregulatory strategies to reduce the temperature of ischemic pat ients.