Lidoflazine does not improve neurologic outcome when administered after complete cerebral ischemia in primates

In order to investigate the effects of the calcium entry blocker lidoflazine on neurologic outcome in primates following an episode of global brain ischemia, 12 pigtail monkeys (Macaca nemestrina) were subjected to 17 min of complete cerebral ischemia, followed by 48 h of intensive care treatment and daily neurologic evaluations for 96 h. The monkeys were randomly assigned to receive, in a blind fashion, either lidoflazine 1.0 mg/kg (n = 6) or inactive lidoflazine solvent (n = 6) at 5 min, 8 h, and 16 h postischemia. One monkey in the lidoflazine group did not meet preestablished protocol criteria and was excluded from data analysis. The remaining monkeys were well matched for age, sex, and other physiologic variables. Neurologic outcome was not significantly different between the lidoflazine- and placebo-treated groups (p greater than 0.5). No monkey in either group achieved a normal neurologic exam by 96 h postischemia. Three lidoflazine-treated monkeys and two placebo-treated monkeys died prior to the 96-h neurologic evaluation. These deaths were judged to be neurologic in origin. The authors concluded that lidoflazine does not improve neurologic outcome in primates when administered after 17 min of complete cerebral ischemia.