Cerebrovascular disease results in huge health expenditures, multiple recurring physician visits, and a great number of surgical and non-surgical treatments along with research into causes and prevention. This issue addresses therapies, early therapies, diagnoses, and prevention. Topics include: Endovascular Treatment of Acute Ischemic Stroke; Acute Treatment of Blood Pressure after Ischemic Stroke and Intracerebral Hemorrhage; Diagnostic Evaluation for Non-traumatic Intracerebral Hemorrhage; Prevention of Recurrent Stroke in Patients with Patent Foramen Ovale; Management of Asymptomatic Carotid Stenosis; Stenting or Endarterectomy for Patients with Symptomatic Carotid Stenosis; The Therapeutic Value of Laboratory Testing for Hypercoagulable States in Secondary Stroke Prevention; Diagnosis and Treatment of Carotid and Vertebral Artery Dissection; Recurrent Stroke while on Anti-platelet Therapy; Anti-platelet and Anti-coagulant Therapy after Intracerebral Hemorrhage; Diagnosis and Treatment of Isolated Central Nervous System Angiitis/Vasculitis; Statins for Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage; Expansion of IV-tPA eligibility beyond NINDS and ECASS III criteria; and Treatment of Unruptured Arteriovenous Malformations. William J Powers MD, renowned for his clinical work with Stroke and Research in Cerebral blood flow and metabolism, and stroke treatment and prevention, leads this issue of Neurologic Clinics, with authors renown in the field.

In this book, an international group of investigators from a broad array of clinical and basic disciplines present the ideas and concepts in the foreground of cerebrovascular disease. Included in their discussion are perspectives on topics that continue to guide current investigations, such as white matter injury, newer imaging approaches, delayed neuronal death, and recovery after stroke, as well as continuing disagreements on the value of heparin or MRI endpoints in the management of stroke patients. Further topics include a proposal for a major multicenter re-study of the utility of extracranial-intracranial bypass surgery in light of additional diagnostic information available through PET scanning; examination of how processes such as apoptosis, inflammation, free radicals, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase activation, and alterations in glutamate receptor function contribute to the pathogenesis of ischemic brain injury; and finally an exploration of how estrogens or cholesterol-lowering agents might be used therapeutically.