The present study confirmed that the focal cooling of the cortex for 1 hour above the temperature of 0 degrees C did not induce any irreversible histological change or motor dysfunction. These results suggest that focal brain cooling above 0 degrees C has the potential to be a minimally invasive and valuable modality for the treatment of severe brain injury or to assist in the examination of brain function.

Objective: Traditionally, angiographic vasospasm (aVS) has been thought to cause delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). However, successful treatment of aVS alone does not result in improved neurological outcome. Therefore, there may be other potential causes of poor neurological outcome, including spreading depolarization (SD). A recent study showed beneficial effects of cilostazol on DCI and neurological outcome. The present prospective clinical trial and experimental study focused on effects of cilostazol on SDs. Methods: Fifty aSAH patients were treated with clip ligation and randomly assigned to a cilostazol (n = 23) or control group (n = 27). Effects of cilostazol on DCI, aVS, and SDs, measured with subdural electrodes, were examined. The effect of cilostazol on SD-induced perfusion deficits (spreading ischemia) was assessed in an aSAH-mimicking model. Results: There was a trend for less DCI in the cilostazol group, but it did not reach our threshold for statistical significance (13.0% vs 40.0%, odds ratio = 0.266, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.059-1.192, p = 0.084). However, the total SD-induced depression duration per recording day (22.2 vs 30.2 minutes, β = −251.905, 95% CI = −488.458 to −15.356, p = 0.043) and the occurrence of isoelectric SDs (0 vs 4 patients, β = −0.916, 95% CI = −1.746 to −0.085, p = 0.037) were significantly lower in the cilostazol group. In rats, cilostazol significantly shortened SD-induced spreading ischemia compared to vehicle (Student t test, difference = 30.2, 95% CI = 5.3-55.1, p = 0.020). Interpretation: Repair of the neurovascular response to SDs by cilostazol, as demonstrated in the aSAH-mimicking model, may be a promising therapy to control DCI.

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Before CAS, patients with NO were more hemodynamically compromised than those with severe stenosis without NO. After CAS, significant cerebral hemodynamic improvement and normalization occurred long-term. Thus, from a hemodynamic perspective, CAS was effective in patients with NO.

Epilepsy is usually treated with medication, but adequate seizure control is still not achieved in over 30% of epilepsy patients, even with the best available agents. Surgical treatment is also performed for such patients, but is not always successful. Focal cooling of the brain using a thermoelectric device has recently been evaluated as an alternative to epilepsy surgery. Brain cooling was first proposed approximately 50 years ago as an effective method for suppressing epileptic discharges (EDs). Recent studies indicate that focal cooling of the brain to a cortical surface temperature of 209 C to 259 C terminates EDs without inducing irreversible neurophysiological dysfunctions or neuronal damage in the brain tissue. Several mechanisms have been proposed for the antiepileptic effects of focal cooling, including reduction in neurotransmitter release, alternation of activation-inactivation kinetics in voltage-gated ion channels, and the slowing of catabolic processes. Developments in the implantable cooling device with closed-loop cooling systems for seizure detection and focal cooling have been promoted in the field of neuromodulation, but several aspects remain uncharacterized concerning the hardware. Recent advances in precision devices have enabled the optimization of the implantable local cooling system, which may become clinically applicable in the near future.