A method of treating a victim suffering from cerebral ischemia or treating a patient expected to suffer an ischemic insult comprises administering a therapeutically effective amount of a dichloroacetate. The post-treatment occurs within about 48 hours of the ischemic insult and lasts for up to about two days.
This invention discloses an improved method of reducing elevated lactic acid and lactate concentrations in patients suffering from ischemic or hypoxic crises as stroke, cardiac arrest, or heart attacks, or other conditions involving surgery, that generate unwanted increases in blood or tissue lactate concentrations. This improvement comprises administering dichloroacetate (DCA), as in the sodium salt form, less than three times daily, at suitable dosages which cause the beneficial effects of DCA to persist beyond the time when the DCA has been pharmacokinetically cleared from the blood circulating in the patient.
A pharmaceutical preparation containing the ganglio-side GM.sub.1 or an inner ester derivative thereof and a method for increasing cerebral blood flow in stroke victims by acute administration of GM.sub.1 or its inner ester derivative.
