Safe and Effective Vascular Endothelial Cell Growth Factor (VEGF)-based Therapeutic Angiogenesis for Ischemic Stroke: Insights from Preclinical Trials

Your doctor should be able to figure out some stroke protocols from this. Ask him/her if they'll be ready for your next stroke in 5 years?  Thats a serious question.
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-90-481-9495-7_8

Abstract

A major problem facing ischemic stroke therapy is the lack of treatments that directly restore the anatomy and physiology of the injured neurovascular unit. Therapeutic angiogenesis emerged as a potential treatment for ischemic stroke after preclinical studies demonstrated that neovascularization induced by angiogenic pharmacological agents is associated with neuroprotection. 

This chapter discusses the: (1) epidemiology of ischemic stroke and the limitations of current treatments, (2) neuroprotection and therapeutic angiogenesis as new treatments for ischemic stroke, (3) biology of vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) and how VEGF has become a prime candidate for therapeutic angiogenesis, (4) potential clinical benefits and adverse effects of VEGF-based therapeutic angiogenesis for ischemic stroke, and (5) gaps in knowledge requiring further preclinical investigations before VEGF-based therapeutic angiogenesis can be considered safe and effective to begin clinical trials for ischemic stroke patients. 

The unresolved issues in the preclinical trials are whether: (A) VEGF-based therapeutic angiogenesis promotes or hinders neuroprotection, (B) doses of VEGF not demonstrating adverse effects at the light microscopy level associated with clinically-significant ultrastructural alterations of the neurovascular unit, (C) VEGF combination therapy provide greater neuroprotection over VEGF monotherapy without additional adverse effects, (D) different isoforms of VEGF produce different therapeutic outcomes, and how the most beneficial isoform affects the anatomy and physiology of other organs, (E) VEGF-based therapeutic angiogenesis affects systemic hemodynamics, (F) different animal models of ischemic stroke produce similar favorable or adverse outcomes, including the influences of age, gender and coexisting chronic diseases, (G) gene therapy and stem cells are beneficial for VEGF-based therapeutic angiogenesis for stroke.