Clinical experience with L-lysine escinate for acute and chronic cerebral circulatory disorders

Abstract

Cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) are major causes of disability and death in Russia. Stroke is the third significant cause of higher death rates after cardiovascular disease and cancer. The prevalence of circulatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis and hypertension, is on the rise. Therapy for CVD must be aimed at the underlying disease in which vascular catastrophe (atherosclerosis, hypertension, heart disease, etc.) develops, at the regression of neurological and psychopathological syndromes, and at the improvement of cerebral blood flow and metabolic processes. Neuroprotective agents, whose efficacy has been established in uncontrolled and small placebo-controlled trials, are widely used in our country. The prescription of these medications is substantiated by the important role of the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying cerebral ischemia. This paper gives data on the clinical use of L-lysine escinate for ischemic stroke (IS), hypertensive crisis, and chronic cerebral circulatory disorders and discusses the mechanism of this drug's action and the pathogenetic mechanisms of cerebrovascular lesions. A number of investigations have shown it expedient to incorporate L-lysine escinate in the combined neuroprotective therapy of patients with IS, cerebral hypertensive crisis, and hypertensive encephalopathy, which is associated with its antiedematous effect, particularly in preventing vasogenic brain edema, in enhancing the tone of cerebral veins, and in improving venous outflow. It is stated that there is a need for an individualized approach to treating CVD, by taking into consideration the existing risk factors and somatic and neurological diseases.