ABSTRACT
Effective and safe measures are needed to augment neurological recovery after stroke. These interventions would complement emergency stroke treatment including reperfusion therapy as well as conventional rehabilitation. The goal of such treatment is to provide a sustained improvement in global neurological outcomes. Among the options for treatment, medications have many of the attributes that may make them the best choice for management of the large numbers of survivors that have residual impairments following stroke. Current clinical data are most robust for the use of antidepressant medications, such as uoxetine, which could be prescribed to patients including those who do not have depression after stroke. Additional research on the utility of antidepressants or other medications that affect brain amines is needed. If these studies conrm the ndings of the recent studies, antidepressants could become a useful medical treatment for improving outcomes after stroke.
