Lifestyle Counselling as Secondary Prevention in Patients With Minor Stroke and Transient Ischemic...
StrokeIschemic2 moreInterventions to improve health behaviour in patients with resent acute stroke are not well established. This study will evaluate the feasibility and effect of an early initiated counselling intervention targeting smoking, physical activity, and adherence to preventive medication, with regular follow-up sessions, in patients with acute minor stroke or transient ischemic attack who are discharged home.
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Post-Stroke Visual Field Defects
Visual Fields HemianopsiaStroke2 moreVisual field defects (VFD) usually do not show improvement beyond 12 weeks from onset. Plasticity occurs in areas of residual vision (ARV) at the visual field which are the functional counterpart of partially damaged brain regions at the areas around brain lesion. Few treatment options are currently available for post-stroke VFD. In this pilot study, the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) applied to these areas on VFD in patients with cortical infarction will be studied. Patients will be divided into two groups; an active group which will receive active stimulation and a sham group which will receive placebo stimulation through a sham coil.
Cohort of Neurovascular Diseases Treated in the Acute Phase and Followed at Lariboisière
Ischemic StrokeHemorrhagic StrokeNeurovascular diseases can cause ischaemic or haemorrhagic strokes. While the most common, such as atherosclerosis are widely studied, others are less well known, such as arterial dissections or cerebral angiopathies. What's more, most studies are limited to a few years' follow-up and the longer-term evolution of patients is less well assessed. Patient follow-up data available in routine practice and specific enrollment through the headache emergencies of the Lariboisière neurovascular intensive care unit (USINV) could provide a particularly rich resource.
High-intensity Interval Training After Stroke
StrokeIschemic1 moreAerobic conditioning is very important after stroke as it may reduce the risk of subsequent stroke and overall mortality. High-intensity interval training (HIIT), in which aerobic training workload is varied between lower and higher intensity bouts within a training session, is known to be effective for maximizing aerobic capacity in healthy individuals and those with cardiac disease. HIIT has not been studied extensively in adults with stroke, but it could be an efficient way to maximize aerobic capacity in this population. Furthermore, using heart rate response to establish training intensity may lead to underestimation of target intensity after stroke because blood pressure medications may blunt the heart rate response. Ventilatory threshold is an alternate method of establishing training intensity and is derived independently of heart rate response. The investigators hypothesized that a 10-week program of treadmill HIIT with intensity based on ventilatory threshold would be feasible in adults at least 6 months post-stroke, and would increase aerobic capacity.
Point-of-care Low-field MRI in Acute Stroke
StrokeIschemic Stroke2 moreConsecutive patients accessing the emergency department with suspected stroke dispatch will be recruited at 3 study units: 1) ASL Abruzzo 1, hospitals of L'Aquila and Avezzano; 2) ASL Abruzzo 2, hospital of Chieti; 3) IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital of Milan. Anonymized clinical and low-field (LF) MRI data as well as conventional neuroimaging data will be independently assessed by external units (Università Politecnica delle Marche and Policlinico di Messina, respectively). Both units will independently adjudicate the best treatment option, while the latter will also provide historical MRI data of stroke patients to develop artificial intelligence algorithms facilitating LF-MRI images interpretation (Libera Università di Bolzano). Agreement with conventional neuroimaging will be evaluated at different time points (hyperacute, acute -24 h, subacute -72 h, discharge, chronic -4 weeks). Further investigations will include feasibility study to develop an ambulance (mobile stroke unit) equipped with LF-MRI and cost-effectiveness analysis of LF-MRI. This trial will provide necessary data to validate the use of LF-MRI in the acute stroke care.
Transnasal Induction of Normothermia in Febrile Stroke Patients
StrokeIschemic4 moreThe objective of this study is to evaluate safety and performance of the COOLSTAT® Transnasal Thermal Regulating Device in reducing temperature in a population of febrile subjects who meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria.
Effectiveness Study on a Virtual Reality Based Training System for Stroke Patients
Cerebrovascular AccidentHemorrhagic Stroke1 moreThe patient study is a phase III trial designed as a single-blinded, randomised, controlled multi-centre trial with repeated measurement events (ME). Patients will be evaluated by a blinded assessor on five occasions: twice within two weeks at baseline before intervention start (BL, T0), once after eight treatment sessions (T1), once after the intervention (T2), and once after a two month follow-up period (FU). Figure 1 illustrates the study overview. The study focuses on the evaluation of the YouGrabber efficacy compared to conventional therapy in an outpatient setting. Research question: Do patients after stroke in the YouGrabber training group show higher postintervention performance in the Box and Block Test (BBT) compared to patients in the conventional therapy group? Hypothesis: H0: The investigators hypothesise that there will be no group differences after 16 training sessions or after the two month follow-up period. H1: The investigators hypothesise that there will be a group difference after the 16 training sessions and after the two month follow-up period. Aim: The aim of the project is to design and implement a single-blinded, randomised controlled multi-centre trial comparing YouGrabber training and conventional therapy in patients after stroke. Patients will be randomly allocated to either the experimental group (EG) or the control group (CG) after the second ME (T0). Group allocation will be based on a computer-generated randomisation list (one for each centre, (MATLAB, 2007b, Mathworks Inc., USA) created by a researcher not involved into the study. Randomisation lists and corresponding token will be stored in the clinics' pharmacy. Patients will draw a token before the first therapy session. The token will be marked and stored until study finalisation in the pharmacy. Group allocation will remain concealed for the independent assessor until study finalisation. Patients and treating therapists will be reminded not to talk about patient's group allocation with other therapists or participants. Patients in both study groups (EG, CG) will receive the same amount of 16 sessions lasting for 45 minutes each. During each therapy appointment patients can decide to stop the training at any time. Patients allocated to EG will have the opportunity to participate in two semi-structured interviews to evaluate their expectations and experiences with the virtual reality therapy with YouGrabber. Treating therapists will have the opportunity to participate in one focus group meeting to evaluate their experiences with the virtual reality training, its advantages and disadvantages. Interview and focus group participation will be voluntary.
Safety of Autologous M2 Macrophage in Treatment of Non-Acute Stroke Patients
Ischemic StrokeHemorrhagic StrokeThe purpose of this study is to determine whether M2 macrophages are safe and feasible in the treatment of non-acute stroke patients
A Randomized Trial Comparing 2 Methods for Rapid Induction of Cooling in Stroke Patients, Cold Infusions...
Ischemic StrokeHemorrhagic StrokeMild 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 Brain.Pad (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 the EMCOOLS Brain.Pad on brain-temperature measured. For the first time iCOOL 3 compares feasibility, safety and efficacy of the two methods.
Positive and Expiratory Pressure and Hemorrhagic Stroke
StrokeHemorrhageIntrathoracic positive pressure may lead to a change hemodynamics, with repercussions for the intracranial compartment, thereby altering intracranial pressure (ICP) and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP). This effect may become more intense when using high positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) values. The aim of the present study was to measure the impact of different PEEP values on ICP, CPP and mean arterial pressure (MAP). MAP, whereas high PEEP values increase ICP, although without clinical relevance.