ABSTRACT
Focal cerebral ischemia initiates a complex series of pathophysiological changes in the vascular territory of the occluded artery. Hypoperfused, hypoxic but initially viable tissue (the ischemic penumbra) is progressively transformed to infarction as a result of a time dependent cascade of functional and metabolic changes induced by ischemia (1). The ischemic penumbra is, therefore, a dynamic region that undergoes change in both time and space.
