Understanding blood flow: the other side of an acute arterial occlusion.

The author reflects on trials and research on acute ischemic stroke. As work in neuroprotection has achieved nothing significant, and the number of publications analyzing the failure of neuroprotection surpassed the reports on successful clinical trial, the author calls for researchers to consider blood flow or hemodynamic variables in stroke. He believes that understanding blood flow in acute arterial occlusion underlies the success of any therapeutic approach to acute ischemic stroke.