Treatment of ischaemic stroke with prostacyclin

Ten patients with ischaemic stroke were treated with prostacyclin (2.5-5.0 ng/kg/min i.v. in 6 h courses 4-10 times during 1-2.5 days). In all patients a dramatic regression of hemiplegia, or hemiparesis, or aphasia occurred in the first few hours of prostacyclin infusion. Four to eight weeks later 6 patients left the clinic without neurological deficit; 3 patients had minor residual hemiparesis in upper limbs. In one patient, the occlusion of the contralateral carotid artery led to his death. It is considered that an antagonism may exist between endogenous cerebral prostanoids and prostacyclin and may have been responsible for the beneficial effects of prostacyclin therapy.