Malignant cerebral edema following cerebral infarction carries a high mortality rate, and its development involves two sequential phases: cytotoxic edema and vasogenic edema. According to the pathological timeline of post-ischemic brain edema, this review categorizes novel inflammatory biomarkers into five classes: upstream initiating signals, key molecules of the inflammasome and pyroptosis pathways, direct effectors of blood–brain barrier disruption and cerebral edema, brain tissue-specific structural injury markers, and novel acute-phase and immunoregulatory serum markers. The aim is to summarize the underlying molecular mechanisms and clinical relevance of these markers, thereby providing a reference for early intervention in post-infarction cerebral edema.
