Nerve stimulation assists restore arm function after stroke
In the United States, someone could have a stroke every 40 secondsTrusted Source. This adds up to about 795,000 cases every year.
While the mortality charge from strokes is high - a person dies of stroke every 4 minutes - many persons survive but with lasting damage. About 80% of men and women who experienced a stroke eliminate some arm function.
Although post-stroke physical rehabilitation can help, for most people, its benefit is limited, and progress often slows and eventually stops.
A new study reports that a combination of VNS and rehabilitation can create a significant improvement in arm function even years after a stroke.
Dr. Charles Yu Liu of the USC Neurorestoration Center of Keck Treatments at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and the study’s business lead neurosurgeon, said,
“That is incredibly exciting news for everybody involved with stroke rehabilitation and functional restoration and represents a distinctive intersection between neurosurgery and neurorehabilitation.”
He added, “These review results are the first of their kind and start new alternatives for stroke patients, permitting them to reclaim more arm function even years after having a stroke.”
The study is published in The Lancet.
The vagus nerve
“Vagus” is usually Latin for “wandering,” and it aptly describes the cranial nerve that runs completely from the mind stem down to the colon. The vagus nerve is definitely a sensory nerve, but it is also involved with motor function.
Electric stimulation of the vagus nerve is going to be a prevalent treatment for epilepsy.
The value of VNS in the treatment of depression is also being exploredTrusted Source.
In VNS, surgeons implant in the chest a pacemaker-like electric pulse generator with a wire linked left vagus nerve. The generator stimulates the nerve with pulses of electric energy, pausing periodically to allow nerve rest. The existing passes through the vagus nerve to the mind.
Real and sham VNS
The USC team’s multi-clinical, international research involved 108 participants, each of whom was experiencing moderate to extreme arm weakness over a period of 9 months to a decade after a stroke event. The analysis was randomized and triple-blind.
The researchers surgically implanted VNS units in all participants. Of them, 53 received VNS treatment designed to promote the organizational potential of the brain. For the rest of the 55 participants, the implanted gadget was hardly ever activated - it dished up as a placebo because of this control group.
After implantation and also actual or sham VNS, all individuals received 6 weeks of in-clinic physical remedy targeted at regaining arm function.
This intensive remedy included six types of tasks:
- gross movement
- reaching and grasping
- simulated eating tasks
- flipping objects
- opening and closing containers
- inserting objects
After the 6 weeks, persons continued working on arm function with prescribed daily home exercises.
Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
