six months<\/a>, according to Johns Hopkins.<\/p>\n\u201cIt is like a quantum change in the way that stroke rehabilitation is being handled,\u201d Wittenberg said. \u201cThe nervous system is damaged in certain ways that no amount of practice will actually heal the nervous system and make you better able to use what you have. This adds to that in a huge way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the pilot, patients received cervical epidural spinal cord stimulation in the region controlling arm and hand movement through the implantation of thin electrodes along the neck. Electrical signals are sent to sensory nerve fibers in the spinal cord in order to enhance communication between the brain and weakened muscles and ultimately regain some level of control. It\u2019s a practice Pitt says has been used for decades to treat chronic pain, but never to restore arm function following a stroke.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormally the way we move is that our brain sends signals to some neurons in the spinal cord that then eventually control the muscles,\u201d said Capogrosso. \u201cAfter a stroke, those signals get substantially diminished. What our technology does \u2026 is amplify those signals. We\u2019re not substituting anything. We\u2019re just trying to facilitate whatever is left after stroke and help it as much as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their approach is novel and, if proven effective, could aid vast swaths of patients affected by the leading cause of adult paralysis in the U.S., with approximately 400,000 people developing chronic arm and hand weakness each year, according to the American Heart Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing more acceptance of devices that are implanted surgically,\u201d Wittenberg said. \u201cAnd so I think as there\u2019s acceptance of that and that it\u2019s not such a big step. People already get pacemakers to keep their heart going, so why not have a spinal cord stimulator to keep their movement going?\u201d<\/p>\n
Capogrosso concurred.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I turn this on, you\u2019re gonna be better and you will see that. That will serve as some motivation,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople start engaging more in activity because they turn it on and they can move around better.\u201d<\/p>\n
A patient\u2019s perspective<\/p>\n
Five years ago, a hemorrhagic stroke robbed 66-year-old Alex Signorini of Hempfield of full mobility of his right arm, hand and leg. At that time, he had been an avid runner, motorcyclist and craftsman with no history of high blood pressure.<\/p>\n
The stroke also forced him to retire after 38 years managing a tire shop.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew who was doing what and answering the phone and listening to other people talk,\u201d Signorini said. \u201cAnd I just cannot do it anymore. My brain could not take all of that coming at it at once.\u201d<\/p>\n
Signorini was in the bathroom, getting ready to get dressed and ride off to work when he began experiencing symptoms.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething felt odd. I started hollering for my girlfriend. My arm felt funny, my side. And I started out of the bathroom to the steps,\u201d said Signorini. \u201cI started down the steps and I was leaning up against the wall and then my leg gave out. I fell three or four steps, five steps, and ended up in a puddle at the bottom of the steps.\u201d<\/p>\n
What followed was a long, difficult journey to regain speech and the ability to walk. It would take years of rehab to relearn basic tasks. These days, he retains several significant mobility deficits like drop foot on his right side, but can speak perfectly and do some of the things he loves, like making birdhouses and taking mind-clearing walks with Toluca, the mixed-breed dog he shares with his girlfriend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hand is tough,\u201d explained Signorini. \u201cEverything I do when I move, my hand wants to close. I can\u2019t really open it. But I can tell it to open and I can feel it. It feels like it\u2019s opening up. It\u2019s really weird what goes in your brain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even five years out \u2014 well beyond the point of diminishing returns for most \u2014 trying is still important to Signorini on multiple levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do a lot of stuff that keeps me going,\u201d said Signorini. \u201cThe one thing that I worried about was \u2018Can I exist?\u2019 because I\u2019m not one to sit and watch TV.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says he is a frequent enrollee in stroke rehab studies due to his sense of duty to the next generation, though his daughter got him involved with Pitt\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the big one. This is really huge,\u201d he said of his continued participation. \u201cI hope that for people it will make a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Signorini first had the device implanted in 2023, as well as when taking part in trials last year and his latest six-month stint, he says there has been a readily apparent level of instant improvement on each occasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could move my arm faster, quicker. I could move it higher,\u201d Signorini said. \u201cThe benefits you get from the stimulation, even when they did it and then they took it back out, some of the benefits were there till about January \u2014 so that was three months.\u201d<\/p>\n
In this initial safety and feasibility-centric study, researchers note lasting gains depend on continued use and that motor function declined after stimulation ceased.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal was in the beginning to be able to hug my girlfriend and daughter with both arms,\u201d said Signorini. \u201cI was able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
When getting to know people like Signorini, the study\u2019s authors feel the full weight of their evolving work and getting a useful therapy into the hands of those who need it as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you see that [progress] is happening, you quickly realize that you owe it to the patients to continue,\u201d said Capogrosso. \u201cIt\u2019s not just that the patient participated in the trial and now you have a paper, and it\u2019s cool \u2014 it\u2019s not about you anymore. It becomes about them. So it\u2019s very important to keep doing this because you really see how you can change hope for a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Currently, the team is recruiting for an extended clinical trial to examine the effects of longer-term stimulation both on its own and with the aid of physical therapy.<\/p>\n
Capogrosso believes that, absent any major hurdles, the technology could be approved for use in stroke patients within three to five years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"University of Pittsburgh researchers aiming to help stroke patients reconnect brain and limb recently hit a major milestone.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-262052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}