Active clinical trials for "Stroke"

The relationship between the intestinal microecology and stroke has become a research hotspot in neurology field today. Maintaining the balance of the intestinal microbiota are expected to bring new breakthroughs for prevention and treatment of stroke. In recent years, stroke in young adults has an increasing incidence and a considerable socioeconomic impact because of high disability rate and health-care costs. So there is an urgent need to explore the role and mechanism of intestinal microecology imbalance in stroke, especially in the development and prognosis of stroke in young people. This study aims to use multi-omics technologies, including microbial diversity, metagenomics and metabonomics, to reveal the characteristics of intestinal flora in young stroke patients, identify biomarkers for predicting outcome after stroke and early detection of young people at high risk of stroke, and to further explore the role of gut-brain axis in the pathogenesis of stroke.

The molecular characteristics of ischemic stroke with phlegm-heat syndrome and candidate biomarkers were identified based on multi-omics data. The main purpose of this study is to validate the molecular characteristics and biomarkers of phlegm-heat syndrome in ischemic stroke, and to demonstrate the association of biomarkers with clinical outcomes.

Endovascular stroke treatment with mechanical thrombectomy (MT) has become the standard therapy for intracranial large vessel occlusion (LVO). The most serious MT-related complication is secondary intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) occurring in 20-25%. Post- recanalization hyperperfusion might be an important risk factor/mechanism of MT-related ICH. In pilot studies, bedside transcranial Duplex sonography (TCD) was identified as a promising screening tool for cerebral hyperperfusion predicting ICH - the hallmark feature of reperfusion injury. There is an unmet need to identify risk factors for ICH after MT as it relates to poor prognosis, no proven treatment is available, and it delays/prohibits usage of anticoagulants/-thrombotics necessary for preventing recurrent stroke. Main objectives: To explore the range and clinical impact of hemodynamic changes after MT as detected on bedside TCD. To assess whether patients with increased blood flow velocity in the recanalized middle cerebral artery (MCA) are at a higher risk to develop ICH / vasogenic brain edema (reperfusion injury) after MT. To investigate if the underlying mechanism is cerebral hyperperfusion (confirmed by perfusion MRI). To additionally study the role of blood biomarkers of blood-brain-barrier / endothelial dysfunction and neuroaxonal damage on reperfusion injury and short-term prognosis. Approach / methods: Prospective, longitudinal Austrian multicentre study conducted at three high-volume stroke centers (Graz, Innsbruck, Salzburg). The investigators will recruit consecutive stroke patients with anterior circulation L VO treated by MT. Immediately after MT, experienced sonographers will perform bedside TCD to determine MCA blood flow status, which will be repeated after 24-48h and on day 7. On day one after MT, brain MRI with perfusion serves to assess infarct size, secondary ICH, (vasogenic) brain edema and perfusion status. MRI will be centrally analyzed in the neuroimaging lab of Graz, blinded to clinical, laboratory and sonographic information. Blood samples for the analysis of biomarkers of endothelial (blood-brain barrier) dysfunction and neuroaxonal damage (neurofilament light) will be taken on day one and at three months post-MT. Neurological outcome will be rated according to the modified Rankin Scale at three months post-stroke.

Stroke survivors frequently suffer disabilities including motor and cognitive problems, impairments in speech and vision, depression, and several other disabilities that worsen their quality of life. Some will recover fully after stroke and others will have permanent impairments. Few studies show trajectories of recovery in different domains after stroke, hence recovery time-lines are not fully known. Also, the whole range of mechanisms leading to recovery are not precisely known (1). To monitor those mechanisms one can utilize biomarkers. In parallel to the studies of recovery, studies on time series of biomarkers after stroke are limited (2). Hence, a crucial first step to increase knowledge on biomarkers of stroke recovery is to gain a better understanding of the time course of both stroke recovery and biomarker patterns. Biomarkers can later be used for outcome predictions after stroke.

Why: Upper-limb recovery post-stroke is challenging. Rehabilitation, aiming to induce plasticity takes an important place in patients' treatment. The last years, non-invasive brain stimulation of the primary motor cortex has gained the communities' interest, allowing direct modification of neural excitability and thus impacting plasticity. Yet, research outcomes remain inconclusive to date. It's expected this to be related to patient heterogeneity including mild to severe motor deficits, and suboptimal site of stimulation. It might be questioned whether M1 stimulation is preferable over that of higher association areas like the parietal or premotor cortex. What: The aim of the study is to identify alternative brain regions to stimulate, related to improved motor quality after a severe initial deficit. How: by following motor recovery over time, by co-recording movement kinematics and brain activity. Because: Stimulation of the novel identified regions may improve motor recovery after stroke.

The Stroke Recovery Initiative is a nation-wide participant recruitment registry that connects people who have had a stroke with researchers who are working to develop new approaches to improve recovery after stroke.

Noninvasive brain stimulations will be used in acute and chronic stroke patients to improve a variety of functions.

Stroke can be linked to atherosclerosis of the large vessels, occlusion of the small intracerebral vessels (gaps), cardioembolic pathology or other rarer etiologies. The cardioembolic etiology of stroke in elderly patients may be difficult to prove. Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cause of cerebral infarction (25%). Detecting AF is not easy. A 24-hour long-term holter and an implantable cardiac monitor (Reveal®) may be required. This etiology is all the more important as it requires anticoagulation treatment reducing the risk of recurrence in the short and long term. The left atrium thrombus is an indisputable marker of atrial fibrillation but it is rarely seen. Other cardiac etiologies such as a thrombus in the left ventricle, a large plaque or a thrombus of the aortic arch are possible. Finally, the permeable oval foramen and the aneurysm of the intra-auricular septum constitute a cause apart in young subjects (<60 years). Typically, the search for thrombus of the left atrium goes through a trans-thoracic cardiac ultrasound and a transesophageal cardiac ultrasound. These examinations, often negative, are performed several days after the onset of the cerebral infarction. The transesophageal cardiac ultrasound, considered as the "gold standard" examination to look for an intracardiac thrombus and an embologenic plaque in the aortic arch, is poorly tolerated. It is rarely performed in patients over 75 years of age. In addition, the length of stay for these patients may increase due to the wait for these exams. Several studies have validated the non-inferiority of the cardiac scanner compared to the transesophageal cardiac ultrasound for the detection of intracardiac thrombus (left atrium or left ventricle). In the study by Hur et al. performed in 55 consecutive patients with a probable cardioembolic infarction, 14 thrombi of the left atrium were detected and confirmed by the cardiac scanner, but the patients were young, with a median age of 61 years. In the Berlin prospective HEBRAS study, 475 patients underwent cardiovascular MRI. The results are being analyzed but the cardiac scanner is more sensitive for the detection of thrombus in the left atrium. A prospective study confirmed that the cardiac scanner is more precise in differentiating the left atrial thrombus from circulatory stasis in patients with stroke In this study, there is no information on the time between the stroke and the completion of the cardiac scanner. Almost all patients with stroke benefit from an angio-scan of the CT scan of supra-aortic trunks as part of the urgent assessment on Day 1 or Day 2. The investigators propose to perform at the same time a cardiac scanner in order to allow a rapid morphological cardiological assessment, at the level of the left atrium, the left ventricle and the arch of the aorta.

The German Stroke Registry (GSR) Endovascular Treatment is an academic, independent, prospective, multicentre, observational registry study. Consecutive patients treated with endovascular stroke treatment will be enrolled in German stroke centers. Patients receive regular care and data will be collected as part of clinical routine. Baseline clinical and procedural information as well clinical follow-up information during in-hospital stay, and up to 90 days of stroke onset are collected. Data collected include demographics, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) on admission, pre-treatment ASPECTS, information on timing and success of interventional treatment, procedural complications, intracranial hemorrhage, and functional outcome.

The study will aim to determine whether 6-weeks of using a SaeboGlove independently (with or without help from a carer) improves upper limb function (measured using the Action Research Arm Test score) in comparison to usual care alone in people with reduced active finger extension, severe upper limb disability and severe hand impairment after recent stroke.