Acute ischemic stroke: Prognostic value of cortisol for severity and outcome

Stroke is the second commonest reason of mortality worldwide and a major cause of long term disability. Early prediction of outcome is important for allocation of therapeutic strategies. Endocrine alterations of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary- Adrenal Axis (HPAA) are one of the first stress-induced alterations after cerebral ischemia (Neidert, 2009).The adrenal glucocorticoid stress response in humans causes catabolism, increasing blood glucose and heart rate, and possibly potentiates ischemic damage to neurons. These effects could induce secondary brain damage in acute stroke