Unraveling the pathophysiology of chronic stroke lesions could yield treatments for stroke-related dementia

Over the past few decades, there has been extensive research in both animal models and humans that has characterized the pathophysiology of stroke during the first few weeks. By contrast, however, there has been very little research into the chronic stage of infarction. This is an important area for future research because, as previously mentioned, more than 10 million individuals worldwide survive stroke each year and more than a third of these survivors subsequently develop dementia. The cause, or causes, of this dementia are unclear, and there are currently no neuroprotective drugs that can improve recovery and provide cognitive protection in the chronic time period. It is possible that there are still neurodegenerative processes that take place during the chronic stage of stroke recovery and this is a promising target for developing treatments for stroke-related dementia.