Method of pre-treating patients for stroke comprising administering metal chelators to the upper one-third of the nasal cavity

A method to pre-treat a patient at risk for stroke comprising:

• identifying the patient at risk for stroke wherein the patient at risk for stroke is an individual comprising one or more risk factor for stroke selected from the group consisting of:
• hypertension, diabetes, obesity, smoking, antiphospholipid syndrome, history of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, and history of stroke;
• administering at least one effective dose of an iron chelator to the upper one-third of the patient's nasal cavity, wherein the at least one effective dose of the iron chelator is 0.0001 to 1.0 mg/kg;
• thereby enabling at least one effective dose of the iron chelator to bypass the patient's blood-brain barrier and delivering at least one effective dose of the iron chelator to the patient's central nervous system;
• and
• protecting the patient's brain from an infarct resulting from a stroke occurring after administering the at least one effective dose of the iron chelator.