Active clinical trials for "Stroke"

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.

Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) has been one of the major causes of global mortality and morbidity. The superiority of endovascular therapy (EVT) over standard medical therapy in treating AIS due to large vessel occlusion (LVO) in the anterior circulation has been widely accepted. However, a critical concern is that even with an extremely high rate of successful recanalization (the modified thrombolysis in cerebral infarction [mTICI] score 2b-3) around 90%, nearly half of the patients failed to benefit from EVT. So, adjunctive therapy of EVT for neuroprotection is required. From the previous domestic and foreign literatures, hypothermia can prevent and treat secondary injury caused by ischemia-reperfusion injury and cerebral edema of acute cerebral ischemia, so as to achieve the role of neuroprotection. In this study, intravascular cooling was performed as soon as possible with careful temperature control in patients receiving thrombectomy. The temperature was controlled at 33° C for 48-72 hours. This parallel controlled study is to systematically evaluate the feasibility and safety of adjunctive therapy using early intravascular hypothermia in AIS patients receiving mechanical thrombectomy. The results will clarify a potential modality for neuroprotection and hopefully provide new evidence in improving patient prognosis.

This study is a first-in-human assessment of safety of using umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UCMSCs) in patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke via a combination of intra arterial (IA) and intravenous (IV) stem cell administration. The novelty of the current UMSC01 treatment study is the dual route of administration. Since dual administration of UCMSC via IA and IV had never been conducted in humans, there may be unknown risks to humans not predicted from the preclinical studies. However, the risk to patients in this trial will be minimized by rigorous adherence to the eligibility criteria, use of appropriate dose and concentration of stem cells, standardized techniques of stem cell infusion, and intensive patient monitoring during and after stem cell infusion.

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.

Currently, dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel (with loading doses) is widely used for patients with acute ischemic stroke. However, immediate, potent and reversible inhibition of platelet aggregation is not possible. Additionally, more than 5% patients have aspirin resistance and more than 15% patients have clopidogrel resistance. Therefore, an intravenously administered GPIIb/IIIa receptor inhibitor (Tirofiban) receptor blocker with fast onset and offset of actions will provide more desired antiplatelet effects in the setting of acute ischemic stroke, especially in patients with high risk of neurological deterioration. This study will measure the anti-platelet effects of Tirofiban in patients with acute ischemic stroke who had high risk of neurological deterioration.

Spasticity is a frequent problem in post-stroke patients. It can negatively affect the functional recovery of patients and impair their quality of life. The repetitive pulsed magnetic stimulation (rPMS) treatment has been shown to cause a reduction in muscle tone and improvement in activities of daily living in stroke patients. So far, the effects of rPMS on muscle tone, which is the neurophysiological component of spasticity, have been evaluated, but its effects on the biomechanical component (soft tissue stiffness) have not been demonstrated. In this study, the effects of rPMS on soft tissue stiffness as well as increased muscle tone will be evaluated with clinical and ultrasound elastography in post-stroke patients with upper extremity spasticity.

Post-stroke anxiety (PSA) is a common complication of stroke that leads to dysfunction and reduces the quality of life. PSA exacerbates cognitive dysfunction, delays the recovery process, and increases the disability, mortality, and recurrence rates of stroke. Therefore, early clinical treatments for PSA are important to improve the prognosis and restore the social functions of stroke patients. Integrated rehabilitation has significant advantages in the treatment of PSA. First of all, there is a wide range of rehabilitation methods, such as acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, which have been proved to be effective for PSA. However, as the application of integrated rehabilitation becomes more and more widespread, its shortcomings are gradually emerging. For example, most of the treatment protocols used in clinical studies are based on personal experience of the investigators, a unified protocol has not yet been formed, treatment methods are still insufficient in standardization and reproducibility. More studies focus solely on the improvement of a certain symptom by a certain rehabilitation therapy, but ignore the important theoretical basis of the "holistic concept", thus showing the uneven clinical efficacy. For the above existing problems, it is necessary to conduct original and innovative research.

The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy and safety of remote ischemic conditioning for acute ischemic stroke.

The overall incidence of good outcome for AIS following endovascular treatment is only proximately 50%. Whether NBO was safe and effective to improve acute ischemic stroke prognosis is still unclear. The investigators' hypothesis is thatNBO is a safe and effective strategy to improve longterm outcome in AIS patients undergoing endovascular treatment.

Background: Stroke is the third major cause of death and disability worldwide. It was shown that combining early reperfusion therapy (thrombolysis and/or thrombectomy) with stroke unit care and immediate rehabilitation have beneficial effects on the patient recovery and outcomes. Cerebrolysin that was proven to have s neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects in vitro and in vivo, administered in combination with endovascular therapy (EVT) could have a positive impact on the prognosis and outcome of these patients. Objectives: To evaluate the impact of early administration of neuroprotective drug (Cerebrolysin) in patient undergoing EVT on the outcome of patients diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke. Methods: 100 patients will be recruited to the proposed study according to the inclusion criteria: Inclusion criteria: Acute ischemic stroke patients NIHSS>8 Qualification for mechanical thrombectomy, without previous thrombolysis. The patients will be randomized into 2 subgroups: G1(standard dose of Cerebrolysin 30ml), - G2 (No Cerebrolysin). The patients will be randomized into 2 subgroups: G1(standard dose of Cerebrolysin 30ml), - G2 (No Cerebrolysin). Cerebrolysin will be administered immediately after randomization or at the latest during the EVT procedure and will be continued for 10 days. After the EVT all patients, depending on their clinical condition, will be hospitalized in ICU (intensive care unit) or Neurology Department, where standard treatment and monitoring will be implemented, as well as standard rehabilitation. Outcome assessments will include: the NIH Stroke Scale, modified Rankin Score, pre MRS, IQ code, Geriatric Depression Scales, MoCA. Additionally, the infarct volume of the control CT will be measured. The follow up should be performed on day 7( or discharge), 1 month, 3 months, 6 months. The duration of the study is planned forr: 12 -24 months