Active clinical trials for "Stroke"

Phase II, prospective, randomized, multicenter, open-label, pilot clinical trial comparing remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) plus standard medical therapy to standard medical therapy alone, in patients with acute ischemic stroke within 9 hours of stroke onset that are not eligible to recanalization therapies.

62 patients who are one year post stroke and have Aphasia as a result of that stroke will be recruited. Participants will have 4 assessment sessions and 15 treatment sessions. The TDCS will be to right Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) (25 active, 25 sham) for 15 days. A combined semantic feature analysis/phonological components analysis treatment will be paired with the stimulation. Two assessment sessions will be pretreatment, 1 session immediately post-treatment, and 1 session at 3 months follow-up.

Cerebrovascular accident [CVA] (medical term for stroke) is a high burden worldwide disorder and the second leading cause of disability. As illustrated by the number of survivors that remain disabled after a CVA (2 out of 3 according to the US National Stroke Association), recovery is limited, and novel neurorehabilitation approaches are urgently needed. Hippotherapy is an emerging specialized rehabilitation approach, performed by accredited health professionals on a specially trained horse via its movement. A body of scientific evidence has gradually emerged in recent years, showing robust benefits of hippotherapy in various massive neurological disabling conditions including brain stroke. The aim of the study is to analyze the effect of a hippotherapy program of several cycles delivered during 22 weeks in total, on the functional and global evolution of post-stroke patients (with a score of Rankin ≥ 3 at inclusion) during the outpatient rehabilitation phase. A second purpose is to measure the impact of the intervention on the quality of life of their close caregivers. A prospective clinical trial on the effectiveness of hippotherapy versus conventional outpatient rehabilitation alone will be carried out. The 22-weeks program includes three cycles of hippotherapy as follows: an initial 2-weeks cycle, an intermediate 1-week cycle and a final 1-week cycle. One-hour daily sessions will be conducted during each cycle exclusive additional rehabilitation care. After each cycle, the patients will have a 9-weeks rest period where they will continue their conventional therapy. A battery of clinical tests will measure both functional and psychological outcome. The primary end point will be the functional independence of the patient. The secondary end points will consider the patient's sensorimotor and cognitive function, the severity of stroke and the quality of life, as well as the caregivers' burden and quality of life. Program evaluation is important in neurorehabilitation to ensure that patients are achieving meaningful outcomes from the care. A primary question is how do stroke patients clinically evolve after being discharged from the hospital and how stable is the achieved rehabilitation outcome. Hippotherapy optimizes brain plasticity and has a strong impact on the global rehabilitation process and functional outcome of these patients. A remaining question concerns the improvement of the caregivers' quality of life.

Stroke has been defined by the World Health Organization as a condition with rapid onset and vascular origin, leading to a focal or global deterioration in brain functions lasting 1 day or longer. Stroke is an important health problem affecting a large part of the society with its high frequency and mortality. Post-stroke disability reduces the patient's quality of life and causes socioeconomic and social problems. Post-stroke hemiplegia often causes a decrease in the ambulatory ability of the patient. As a result, the patient's independence to move inside and outside the home is negatively affected. Gait is one of the most affected sensorimotor functions in stroke patients. Although the majority of patients strive to walk independently, they cannot reach a level of independent walking sufficient to perform activities of daily living (ADL). Current studies emphasize that the intensive early rehabilitation program is effective in treating patients with gait and movement disorders. Rehabilitation programs with a multidisciplinary approach are the most effective options that can be applied to increase a patient's functional status and post-stroke independence. Robotic-assisted walking devices are one of the current and effective methods used to regain ambulation.

The CAMAROS trial is a randomized controlled phase II trial analyzing the effect of coupling a C-C chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) antagonist, Maraviroc (Celsentri), and exercise to improve both upper and lower extremity recovery after a stroke.

This study attempts to minimize the development of a common movement impairment following stroke known as "flexion synergy" that makes it extremely difficult to reach outward with the arm. Participants with acute/subacute stroke will receive one of two study interventions in addition to prescribed therapies in both inpatient rehabilitation and day-rehab. Participants will be followed for 1 year.

Hemiparesis is a common motor disorder after a stroke. The majority of patients do not recover functional use of their paretic upper limb. The use of mirror therapy allows the activation of the mirror neurons involved to stimulate brain plasticity after brain damage.The IVS (Intensive Visual Stimulation) device allows an easy implementation of mirror therapy by filming the valid upper limb and projecting the inverted image onto a screen placed above the parietal arm thus producing the illusion of movement of the parietal arm. The main hypothesis of this study is that the structured practice of a large number of upper limb targeted movement repetitions using an intensive visual numerical simulation device as a partial replacement for routine care (conventional occupational therapy) in the sub-acute phase of stroke will increase the active function (motor function and functional abilities) of the distal end of the upper limb compared to conventional rehabilitation. Objectives: This randomized controlled trial will evaluate the effects of partial substitution of routine care (occupational therapy) by structured movement repetition programs by Intensive Visual Simulation using an IVS3 device, on the distal motor control of the upper hemiparesis limb, between 4 and 10 weeks after the stroke, compared to a program with conventional care alone.

Participants are seeking to unleash the full therapeutic potential of a newly developed, customizable and potentially commericializable 10-channel Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) to rehabilitate the gait of chronic stroke survivors. Each subject will undergo 18-sessions (~1 month) FES training. Participants will utilize the theory of muscle synergies from motor neurosciences, which are defined as neural modules of motor control that coordinate the spatiotemporal activation patterns of multiple muscles, to guide our personal selections of muscles for FES. It is hypothesized that chronic stroke survivors will learn from FES stimulations, over several daily sessions, both by suppressing the original abnormal muscle synergies and by employing the normal muscle synergies as specified in the FES. It is also expected that the walk synergies of the paretic side of chronic stroke survivors should be more similar to healthy muscle synergies at the two post-training time points than before training.

Much recent interest was raised by the use of Action Observation Treatment (AOT) in stroke patients rehabilitation. AOT, well-grounded in neurophysiology, is an updated approach, based on mirror neuron system (MNS) used to rebuild motor function despite injuries by engaging the brain regions active during action execution in individuals with limited mobility. This project aims at identifying, for the first time in Italy, neurophysiological electroencephalographic (EEG) biomarkers able to predict rehabilitation outcomes and providing an innovative optimized AOT rehabilitation protocol for chronic Stroke outpatients. EEG will be recorded to identify the most effective stimuli, quantify changes/recovery, profile patients. Moreover, an innovative AOT home-based program will be implemented. The translational research results will ensure advances in the optimization and personalization of the rehabilitative process thus contributing to improve the quality of life of chronic stroke patients. Stroke is a leading cause of death and one of the greatest causes of long-term disability that interferes with a good quality of life. Nowadays the rehabilitation interventions are the major component of patient's care to achieve functional outcome. In the last few years, in order to improve Activity of Daily Living (ADL), new noninvasive strategies have emerged as rehabilitative treatments rather than traditional physical therapies. The Action Observation Treatment (AOT), supported by results collected through randomized controlled trials, is one of these. This new rehabilitation approach is based on the properties of the Mirror Neuron System (MNS; 11-13). The extensive research of the last 20 years on the human MNS (hMNS) showed its importance not only in action recognition but also in motor intentions and other social cognitive functions. Lastly, because recruited also in damage brain (18,19), the MNS is demonstrated to provide satisfactory rehabilitative outcomes. The AOT takes advantage of the opportunity to restore functions despite the patient's impairment and it seems to be a valid example of translational medicine from basic neuroscience to rehabilitation. To date, neurophysiological outcomes were never used for translational purposes aimed to the optimization of the therapy and no evidence, in Italy, related to the effectiveness of the home-based program were proposed.

This is a placebo controlled, randomized, double blinded study including Phase 1 and Phase 2. Phase I study is a safety assessment and Phase 2 study is incline to assess effectiveness of MSCs. Potential subjects must be screened and consented before enrolled. The primary objective of this study is to determine the effects of early intravenous infusion of allogeneic human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HucMSCs or MSCs used in the following section) for patients with acute ischemic stroke. Eligible patients will receive a single dose of MSCs or placebo within 24 hours after stroke. Patients will be followed for 2 years post infusion for safety and efficacy (change in neurological symptoms and quality of life). Assessments will occur during transplantation and at 3,7, 14 days and1,3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after infusions of stem cells.