Significance of Experimental Infarct Size as an Indicator of Therapeutic Efficacy in Humans

To the Editor:We would like to make a comment not in particular to the article by Shimamura et al1 but to the use of infarct size in animal experiments as a guide to human cerebrovascular research. Many human studies of treatments with neuroprotective agents for acute ischemic stroke, which had good experimental potential, had disappointing clinical results. This failure can be attributed to many factors.2 One of the main problems is that reliance on infarct size measurement alone in animals can be misleading as an indicator of therapeutic efficacy in humans.3We know for example that nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors have provided significant neuroprotection in experimental animals subjected to focal ischemia.4,5 Tirilazad mesylate is a potent inhibitor of lipid peroxidation caused by …