WHAT STROKE PATIENTS NEED TO KNOW

Hope for stroke paralysis as new device can retrain brain

Scientists in the US have invented a device which retrains the undamaged side of a stroke victim’s brain to take over the tasks of the damaged part.

This gives hope to tens of thousands left with disabilities as the researchers proved it’s possible to retrain the healthy side of the brain to move paralysed limbs. Around 100,000 people suffer a stroke each year in Britain and two thirds of the 60,000 survivors will leave hospital with a disability.

Prof Eric Leuthardt, of the Washington University School of Medicine, said: “We have shown that a brain-computer interface using the uninjured hemisphere can achieve meaningful recovery in chronic stroke patients.” His team selected 10 patients still suffering significant paralysis six months on from their stroke. They were invited to use the device for up to two hours a day for 12 weeks. At the end of the study their ability to grasp objects was far better. “For some people, this represents the difference between being unable to put on their pants by themselves and being able to do so.”