Cerebral ischemia

Cerebral ischemia is an ischemic condition where the brain or parts of the brain do not receive enough blood flow to maintain normal neurological function. Cerebral ischemia can be the result of various diseases, or the result of arterial obstruction such as strangulation. Similarly to cerebral hypoxia, severe or prolonged cerebral ischemia will result in unconsciousness, brain damage or death, mediated by the ischemic cascade.

An extensive review of mechanisms by which ischemia damages the nervous system has been published by Peter Lipton.

A related condition is subcortical ischemic depression, also known as vascular depression. This condition is most commonly seen in elderly depressed patients. Late onset depression is increasingly seen as a distinct variety of depression, and is commonly detected with an MRI.