The effect of glycerol infusion in acute cerebral infarction.

Intravenous administration of glycerol has been used in an effort to improve the prognosis for patients with acute cerebral infarction. Fifty patients were treated actively and 56 served as a control group. The neurological status before, during and after treatment for six days was assessed by a score system. The patients were grouped according to the initial score. Those with the highest and lowest scores did not improve from glycerol infusion. However, the treated patients with intermediate scores, where the prognosis is known to be dubious, showed a significant improvement compared to the controls. The mortality was not influenced. No undesirable side-effects from glycerol were registered.