Introduction: Stroke is the second leading cause of death in the world and the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in adults; about half of those who survive become dependent on others in performing personal activities of daily living. Ischemia disturbs calcium cellular homeostasis, whereas calcium channel blockers re-establish it. This study was aimed at assessing benefits of calcium channel blockers on the outcome of rehabilitation of the patients afflicted by ischemic stroke.
Material and methods: The functional independence was measured by the Barthel index in 90 patients subjected to rehabilitative therapeutic treatment. The functional recovery of patients treated with calcium channel blockers and with other drugs (control) was compared and tested.
Results: The analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the 0.5 confidence interval showed that the increases of the Barthel index values were significantly higher in the patients treated with calcium antagonists (p < 0.5).
Discussion: According to the literature, such an outcome is the result of improved brain blood flow auto-regulation, increased brain perfusion as well as of neuroprotective, antioxidative, platelet anti-aggregatory effects of investigated drugs.
Conclusion: The calcium channel blockers improved the outcome of rehabilitative therapeutic treatment significantly in the patients afflicted by ischemic stroke.