Cleveland Clinic doctors perform groundbreaking stroke surgery

The Cleveland Clinic has performed what it calls the “first deep brain stimulation surgery for stroke recovery,” which it says is part of an ongoing clinical trial assessing the procedure’s potential to improve movement in patients recovering from a stroke.

During the six-hour procedure, the clinic said, “electrodes were implanted in a part of the patient’s brain called the cerebellum, which has extensive connections with the cerebral cortex.” Deep brain stimulation electrodes, connected to a pacemaker, “provide small electric pulses as a way to help people recover control of their movements,” the clinic said in the release.

Dr. Andre Machado, who led the team performing the surgery, said that if the research succeeds, “it is a new hope for patients that have suffered a stroke and have remained paralyzed after a stroke. It is an opportunity to allow our patients to rehabilitate and gain function and therefore gain independence.”

The clinic said the patient has been “discharged home feeling well and in stable condition.” Over the next few weeks, the patient will continue to heal and recover from the brain surgery, and then will take part in physical therapy, the clinic said. After a few weeks of rehabilitation, the deep brain stimulation device will be turned on, and the patient “will be monitored and evaluated regularly to determine how DBS can boost the effects of physical therapy,” according to the clinic.