Tag Archives: stroke survivors

Magnet use in stroke therapy

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Stimulating the brain with magnets is likely to improve the language skills of stroke survivors.

Researchers led by Caroline Barwood from the University of Queensland’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences found marked improvement in the language skills of stroke patients after they underwent Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).

TMS is a non-invasive method that seeks to target brain activity to facilitate the
reorganisation of brain regions with the purpose to alter language behaviours, reports The European Journal of Neurology.

The treatment involves placing a coil on the participant’s head which uses electromagnetic induction to induce weak electric currents through a changing magnetic field, according to a university statement.

Stroke therapy

Stroke therapy

A group of patients that experienced strokes between one and six years prior to the study were recruited for participation and treated at the university’s Centre for Neurogenic Communication Disorders Research.


“Eighty percent of patients treated with TMS showed improvements in language skills, most notably in expressive language, which includes naming, repetition and discourse. No language improvements were seen for those treated with placebo TMS,” Barwood said.

The researcher said changes in patients’ language scores were measured on standardised speech pathology tests. “The research strongly demonstrates that TMS may be a very useful and safe treatment method,” she added.

New drug for stroke victims

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A naturally occurring substance which slows the immune system could be used to reduce the swelling after stroke which adds to the initial damage caused to the brain by oxygen deprivation.

A study on mice showed that a protein known as alpha-B-crystallin, which is naturally produced in response to stress, can work like a sponge to soak up inflammatory molecules in the brain and reduce further damage.

Stroke, the third most common cause of death in Britain, happens when blood flow to the brain suddenly drops due to a clot or bleeding.

Mice which were genetically engineered to lack alpha-B-crystallin suffered more brain damage from stroke than normal mice in an experiment by Stanford University scientists.

Stroke

Stroke

Administering the substance as many as 12 hours after stroke reduced the size of the brain lesion, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

The only drug currently approved for the treatment of stroke, known as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), must be administered within four and a half hours to be effective.


Dr Sharlin Ahmed of The Stroke Association said: “This potential new treatment could help improve the outcome for thousands of stroke survivors by reducing the amount of inflammation around the brain after a stroke.

“However, it’s still very early days and a lot more research needs to be carried out before this treatment is tested in humans.”