6533b839fe1ef96bd12a6ad0

RESEARCH PRODUCT

La “Stimolazione transcranica Random Noise” (tRNS) e la riabilitazione motoria dell’arto superiore nel paziente in fase subacuta di ictus ischemico.

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"RANDOM NOISE TRANSCRANIAL STIMULATION" (TRNS) AND MOTOR REHABILITATION OF THE UPPER LIMB IN SUBACUTE ISCHEMIC STROKE PATIENTS. BACKGROUND Upper limb impairment is a common outcome after stroke. New rehabilitative interventions partially failed to show a superior effect compared to standard therapy. The present study focuses on the effect of tNRS in the sub-acute stage after stroke. The primary aim is to evaluate the combined use of TRNS with the GRASP in subacute ischemic stroke patients. METHODS A double-blind RCT, approved by local committee, was performed. Patients with upper-limb impairment were recruited 1 to 6 weeks after stroke. Participants were randomly allocated to two groups: GRASP+tRNS and GRASP+Sham stimulation. Each patient underwent 5 session (1 session/day). Fugl-Meyer Assessment Upper extremity (FMA-UE) was performed to evaluate upper limb impairment before treatment (T0) at the end (T1) and after a month (T2). Clinical and demographic characteristics and changes between baseline data and follow-up were compared between groups with the t tests and the chi-square test for the continuous and categorical variables. Anova was used to evaluate the differences among groups( level of significance of 95% (p <0.05). RESULTS 11 men and 13 women were recruited, (age range from 55 to 92 years). FMA-UE, (T0), (T1) and (T2) average scores were 43,08, 48,46 and 60,62 respectively (42,42; 48,17 ; 56,18 for TRNs and 43,75; 48,75 and 53,58 for sham). TRNS group reported a significant improvement in FMA-UE score after treatment. CONCLUSIONS The additional use of tRNS to GRASP seems to have a significant beneficial effect . These results should be verified by additional confirmatory studies.