Active clinical trials for "Stroke"

The aim of the study is to investigate the efficacy and safety of digital interactive technology with artificial intelligence and biofeedback Smart glove "SensoRehab" for restoration of in-hand manipulation in patients with ischemic stroke in the early and late recovery periods.

Post-stroke depression (PSD) is a common complication of stroke that leads to dysfunction and reduces the quality of life. PSD exacerbates cognitive dysfunction, delays the recovery process, and increases the disability, mortality and recurrence rates of stroke. Therefore, early clinical treatments for PSD are important to improve the prognosis and restore the social functions of stroke patients. Integrated rehabilitation has significant advantages in the treatment of PSD. 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 PSD. 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.

This study is being done to see how errors lead to improvement. Specifically, we are evaluating the errors stroke participants make during an upper extremity exercise program when reaching for a target using their affected arm. Once we understand the participant's reaching errors, we plan to create a customized reaching exercise according to the individual's specific error tendencies which will lead to better performance on movement ability after training.

A phase III randomized, multi-center, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial that will examine two strategies for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke associated with a large vessel anterior occlusion within 4.5 hours from symptoms onset: direct endovascular treatment vs. endovascular treatment preceded by intravenous tenecteplase.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy and safety of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOAC) in atrial fibrillation patients with intermediate stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc score 1 for male, 2 for female). A. Major safety results include major bleeding and clinically relevant non-major bleeding. B. Major efficacy results include strokes, systemic embolism and mortality. C. Other results include myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, transient ischemic attack, hospitalization, drug compliance, quality of life questionnaire (AFEQT), cognitive function (KDSQ), aging questionnaire(K-Frail) and hand grip strength.

STITCH - Prospective Multi-Center Comparative Parallel Concurrent Study of the NobleStitch™ EL versus FDA-approved Amplatzer Occluder device for closure of Patent Foramen Ovale to prevent recurrent Ischemic stroke.

This three-year study is proposed to document the effect and further implementation of error-augmented walking on gait performance and brain activities in individuals with stroke. Note that brain activations of post-stroke individuals during locomotion is a relatively unexplored realm. In the first year, study aims to observe the gait performance and brain activity of post-stroke and healthy participants when they walk on the split-belt treadmill, which inputs errors and causing adaptation during locomotion. Second year, study focuses on the long-term effect in aspect of brain activation and gait performance after training the post-stroke individuals with error-augmented treadmill walking. Lastly, study aim to investigate the long-term effect of practically applying the concept of error-augmented training strategy into clinical physical therapy. The first-year study is a cross-sectional study to recruit post-stroke and healthy participants. Gait performance will be measured by GaitUp system and brain activity during each walking trails will be measured concurrently by functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Cadence, stride time, stride length and swing cycle are the gait parameters that will be recorded. Also, symmetry ratio and variability of temporal and spatial parameters will also be calculated. Brain area of interest in this study will be bilateral premotor cortex (PMC), supplementary motor area (SMA) and medial part of primary motor cortex (M1). Study will run one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures and, if needed, Tukey post hoc test will be used to document the within group and between group differences with p<.05. The second year and third year study are single-blinded (assessor), randomized controlled trials. In the second year, study will recruit and randomize post-stroke participants into one of the two training groups, error-augmented treadmill training group (ETT group) and active control group (AC group). In ETT group, participants will practice split-belt treadmill walking. And participants in AC group will received traditional treadmill walking. The training duration will be 40 minutes per session, 3 sessions per week for a total of 4 weeks for every group. There will be three evaluations, chronologically, on one day before intervention, one day after completion of intervention and one month after completion of intervention. Gait performance, brain activity, dynamic gait index and sensorimotor ability of lower extremity will be documented. Two-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc test will be used to determine the training and follow-up effects with p< .05. During the third year, individuals with stroke will be recruited and randomized to one of the two group, error-augmented concept combined physical therapy group (EAPT group) and conventional physical therapy group (CPT group). Participants in the CPT group will receive thirty-minute conventional physical therapy each session. Instead of training on a split-belt treadmill, participants in EAPT group will receive fifteen-minute walking trainings that implement the error-augmented concept and another fifteen-minute conventional physical therapy each session. The training duration will be 40 minutes per session, 3 sessions per week for a total of 4 weeks for every group. The outcome measurements, and statistical analysis are the same as those described in the second year.

Physical therapists frequently use manual cueing as a tool to improve movement quality in persons recovering from stroke but evidence to support its effectiveness is lacking. The purpose of this graduate student research study is to determine the immediate and carryover effects of an integrated verbal and manual facilitation approach used by physical therapists during sit to stand training on the midline alignment, muscle activation and quality of movement in chronic stroke survivors with hemiplegia.

Over fifty percent of stroke patients experience chronic arm hand performance problems, compromising independence in daily life activities and quality of life. Traditionally, the effectiveness of rehabilitation in improving functioning for stroke patients more than 6 months has not been proven. However, spontaneous neurological recovery reaches the plateau at 3~6 months later. Hand of Hope is a virtual reality (VR)-based, electromyography (EMG)-driven, and task-oriented hand robot. Otherwise, it needs patients to have active participation during the intervention which is critical for motor recovery after stroke. Robotic rehabilitation devices have the potential to deliver high-intensity, reproducible therapy. Robot-assisted task-oriented training had been proposed by several researchers, but the evidence of clinical effectiveness in highly functional chronic stroke patients is still lack. Spasticity is a common disorder which occurs following stroke. The prevalence of post-stroke spasticity can be as high as 46% in the chronic phase (over 3 months). Spasticity impacted activities of daily living, quality of life, pain, and functional impairments. Long-term spasticity may lead to tendon contracture and limb deformities. Botulinum toxin injection, which mostly used in chronic phase (over 6 months), had been proved to be a safe agent representing the gold standard treatment for focal spasticity, while avoiding systemic effects. But the effects of botulism toxin on functional ability are still unclear. Moreover, there is insufficient evidence on adjunctive therapies following botulism toxin. The purpose of the present study is to examine the effects of botulinum toxin injection combined with Hand of Hope and standard occupational therapy on upper extremity function, and compares the findings to those of amount-matched chronic stroke survivors who received only Botulinum toxin injection and standard occupational therapy.

Introduction Stroke is the main cause of disability in the world and its sequelae have a great impact in the functional independence and quality of life of patients and families. Unilateral spatial neglect is one of the most frequent cognitive deficits after stroke, and its maintenance is associated with poor functional outcome of the rehabilitation process. For many years clinical research has been conducted to develop new and effective rehabilitation strategies for neglect. Noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques are important tools in this regard, and it should be considered as a therapeutic intervention used in combination with conventional neuropsychological approaches. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive, safe, neurophysiological technique able to modulate cortical activity by inducing a weak electric current into the brain. The studies focused on neglect symptoms treatment by means of tDCS over the lesional and contralesional hemisphere have shown promising results and its combination with conventional neglect therapies may enhance treatment efficacy and speed the recovery. Objectives To improve neglect symptoms by reducing the pathological hyperactivity of the undamaged hemisphere after right medial cerebral artery stroke, through the application of multisite tDCS, and to validate a NIBS protocol for the enhancement of conventional neuropsychological rehabilitation outcome. Methods The sample will be composed by 30 patients with spatial neglect secondary to a ischemic stroke in the middle cerebral artery in subacute stage (3 to 12 months since the event). The patients will be randomly assigned to one experimental group (Active, Sham, and Control). The intervention protocol consists in a two weeks intervention (10 sessions, 45 min, Monday to Friday) of tDCS and neuropsychological rehabilitation applied concurrently. In each session a 20 min tDCS at 2 milliamps (m will be applied over P3 according to 10/20 EEG international system (cathodal) with return electrodes placed in C3,CP5,CP1,Pz,PO3,PO7,P7 (10/20 EEG). StarStim® tDCS 8 channels Multisite device will be used.