Mechanisms of brain injury after global cerebral ischemia.

Global cerebral ischemia occurs commonly in patients who have a variety of clinical conditions including cardiac arrest, shock, and asphyxia and in patients undergoing complex cardiac surgery. Irrespective of the etiology of cerebral ischemia, cellular and molecular processes trigger a cascade of events that culminates in a "final common pathway," resulting in ischemic neuronal injury. Identification of these injury mediators and pathways in a variety of experimental animal models of global cerebral ischemia has led to investigation of target-specific cytoprotective strategies that are critical to clinical brain injury outcome.