Active clinical trials for "Stroke"

The purpose of the research is to investigate the effects of respiratory training on respiratory and functional performance in patients with stroke.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of game-based virtual reality rehabilitation combined with functional electrical stimulation on distal upper extremity function, and compare the findings to those of functional electrical stimulation in stroke survivors.

The substantial efficacy and the possible mechanism of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) improving language recovery remained unclear. It is hypothesized that the rTMS was associated with increased synaptic connection and neural regeneration which can be evaluated via functional neuroimage and neurofiber imaging analysis. The effect of rTMS intervention was monitored by clinical testing and neuroimaging study.

Mild hypothermia improves outcome in patients with global cerebral ischemia after cardiac arrest. Hypothermia seems promising also in other acute hypoxic-ischemic or in brain swelling associated cerebrovascular disease. The narrow-time-frame is a major issue ("time is brain"). To provide immediate cooling without delay, easy to use, mobile and effective methods are needed. Cold infusions (4 °C) are an accepted standard worldwide. EMCOOLS Flex.Pads (Emergency Medical Cooling Systems AG, Wien, Austria) is a new non-invasive surface cooling system. A comparison of these two induction methods has never been done before. Neither was the effect of EMCOOLS Flex.Pads on brain-temperature measured. For the first time iCOOL 2 compares feasibility, safety and efficacy of the two methods.

Stroke is a generic term for cerebral infarction and cerebral haemorrhage and accounts for more patient days than any other single condition in Swedish health care. The Swedish guidelines for stroke treatment, issued by the national board for health and welfare, recommend early supported discharge for people with mild to moderate stroke. This is based on studies in which mean hospitalization was 18 days. The average length of stay in Sweden is 12 days. Policy makers would, however, like to shorten length of stay even further, and many patients are anxious to get home. Where and how to get support at home after discharge varies. This study is a randomized controlled trial in which half of the subjects are randomly allocated to very early supported discharge and the other half receives usual treatment. The investigators believe that patients discharged very early with support will experience less anxiety compared with controls. The investigators believe that early supported discharge is safe and that there is no difference between groups in bodily function. In order to test differences between the groups, the study requires approximately 110 subjects. Everyone who comes to the stroke unit at the hospital with a mild to moderate stroke can be recruited to the study. The intervention is having a team from the stroke unit visiting the patient's home and train him/her according to the individualized goals. The controls are discharged according to routine with support from primary care if needed. Assessments are made by therapists who are not involved in the training upon returning home, at 1 month, 3 to 12 months. The assessments include anxiety, motor activity, gait and balance, and ADL. Interviews will be done to highlight the subject's own experience. It is important to evaluate new methods and organizational changes prior to their implementation in health care. The investigators hope to show that very early supported discharge with rehabilitation is safe and provides confidence and less anxiety. Then it is possible to introduce a method that simultaneously improves patient outcome and increases availability of hospital beds.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the induced hypertension using phenylephrine in patients with noncardioembolic ischemic stroke. The investigators hypothesized that phenylephrine induced-hypertension can result in good clinical response without serious complications in patients with noncardioembolic ischemic stroke.

The purpose of this proposal is 1) to compare the relative effects of the robotic rehabilitation (RR), mirror therapy (MT), and conventional intervention (CI), 2) to compare the effects of the combined therapy of the RR-Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) and the RR-Placebo Intervention (PI), and 3) to identify the clinical predictors that will potentially influence the functional outcomes after interventions.

The study is to assess the safety and possible efficacy of umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells (UCBMC) treatment of chronic ischemic stroke.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a combination of "Botulinum Toxin (BT) and Upper Limb (UL) rehabilitation" compared to "BT only" on UL motor function in adults with spasticity after stroke using a pre-post design. The research question is whether combination of BT and UL rehabilitation compared to BT only is more effective in improving the UL function, range of motion and pain.

Even if it is a daily questioning for the stroke physician, no concrete recommendation exists regarding the time-point of the mobilization of stroke patients. In this study, we will compare two mobilisation strategies: early versus delayed "verticalisation". 400 ischemic stroke patients will be included in this prospective randomized controlled trial, equally distributed in two groups. In the early mobilisation procedure the patient is allowed to go and sit outside of the bed the day after the stroke onset, whereas in the other arm, this procedure is delayed to the third day after stroke onset. The outcome in both groups will be assessed by the modified Rankin Scale at 3 months, which is commonly used in stroke study to investigate the functional outcome of the patients.