Facilitating Neuroplastic Changes of Acute Stroke Survivors

Stroke Clinical Trial

Official title:

Facilitating Neuroplastic Changes of Acute Stroke Survivors With Severe Hemiplegia

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Not yet recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT06404268
• Other study ID #: HP-00110205
• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Phase: Phase 1/Phase 2
• Start date: May 2024
• Est. completion date: April 2029

Study information

• Verified date: May 2024
• Source: University of Maryland, Baltimore
• Contact: Soh-Hyun Hur
• Phone: 410 706-8625
• Email: SoHur[@]som.umaryland.edu
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This project will develop a wearable rehabilitation robot suitable for in-bed acute stage rehabilitation. It involves robot-guided motor relearning, passive and active motor-sensory rehabilitation early in the acute stage post-stroke including patients who are paralyzed with no motor output. The early acute stroke rehabilitation device will be evaluated in this clinical trial.

Description:

Stroke survivors often experience loss of motor control and impaired function. Immediately after stroke, there is a time-limited window of heightened plasticity during which the greatest gains in recovery occur. Therefore, early intensive sensorimotor rehabilitation post-stroke is critical in improving functional outcomes and minimizing disability. However, acute stroke survivors often receive little active training to improve mobility during their hospital stay and they are left alone during most of the day. Especially for those acute patients with no voluntary motor output, active motor training might be even less, partly due to a lack of rehabilitation protocols to detect potential motor recovering signals sensitively and facilitate neuroplastic changes. To address this unmet clinical need, this project will develop a novel wearable rehabilitation robot suitable for in-bed acute stage rehabilitation with guided motor relearning, passive and active motor-sensory rehabilitation early in the acute stage post-stroke including patients who are paralyzed with no motor output. The early acute stroke rehabilitation device will be evaluated in this clinical trial.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Enrollment: 100
• Est. completion date: April 2029
• Est. primary completion date: April 2029
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 30 Years to 85 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Acute first time unilateral hemispheric stroke (hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke, 24 hours after admission to 1 month post-stroke at the start of the proposed treatment)

• Hemiplegia or hemiparesis

• 0=Manual Muscle Testing (MMT)<=2

• Age 30-85

• Ankle impairments including stiff calf muscles and/or inadequate dorsiflexion

Exclusion Criteria:

• Medically not stable

• Associated acute medical illness that interferes with ability to training and exercise

• No impairment or very mild ankle impairment of ankle

• Severe cardiovascular problems that interfere with ability to perform moderate movement exercises

• Cognitive impairment or aphasia with inability to follow instructions

• Severe pain in legs

• Severe ankle contracture greater than 15° plantar flexion (when pushing ankle to dorsiflexion)

• Pressure ulcer, recent surgical incision or active skin disease with open wounds present below knee

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Stroke

Intervention

Device:
• Motor relearning training
Ankle motor control relearning training under real-time feedback
• Passive stretching
Passive stretching under intelligent robotic control
• Gamed-based active movement training
Active movement training through movement games with robotic assistance
• Passive movement
Passive movement in the joint middle range of motion
• Active movement training
Active movement training without robotic assistance
• Ankle torque and motion measurement
Ankle torque and motion measurement with no real-time feedback

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Maryland, Baltimore	The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

References & Publications (28)

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Bernhardt J, Chan J, Nicola I, Collier JM. Little therapy, little physical activity: rehabilitation within the first 14 days of organized stroke unit care. J Rehabil Med. 2007 Jan;39(1):43-8. doi: 10.2340/16501977-0013. — View Citation

Bernhardt J, Dewey H, Thrift A, Donnan G. Inactive and alone: physical activity within the first 14 days of acute stroke unit care. Stroke. 2004 Apr;35(4):1005-9. doi: 10.1161/01.STR.0000120727.40792.40. Epub 2004 Feb 26. — View Citation

Chen K, Wu YN, Ren Y, Liu L, Gaebler-Spira D, Tankard K, Lee J, Song W, Wang M, Zhang LQ. Home-Based Versus Laboratory-Based Robotic Ankle Training for Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Pilot Randomized Comparative Trial. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2016 Aug;97(8):1237-43. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2016.01.029. Epub 2016 Feb 20. — View Citation

Chung SG, Van Rey E, Bai Z, Roth EJ, Zhang LQ. Biomechanic changes in passive properties of hemiplegic ankles with spastic hypertonia. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2004 Oct;85(10):1638-46. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2003.11.041. — View Citation

Chung SG, van Rey E, Bai Z, Rymer WZ, Roth EJ, Zhang LQ. Separate quantification of reflex and nonreflex components of spastic hypertonia in chronic hemiparesis. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2008 Apr;89(4):700-10. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2007.09.051. — View Citation

Gao F, Grant TH, Roth EJ, Zhang LQ. Changes in passive mechanical properties of the gastrocnemius muscle at the muscle fascicle and joint levels in stroke survivors. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2009 May;90(5):819-26. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2008.11.004. Erratum In: Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2009 Sep;90(9):1643. — View Citation

Gao F, Ren Y, Roth EJ, Harvey R, Zhang LQ. Effects of repeated ankle stretching on calf muscle-tendon and ankle biomechanical properties in stroke survivors. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). 2011 Jun;26(5):516-22. doi: 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2010.12.003. Epub 2011 Jan 6. — View Citation

Gao F, Zhang LQ. Altered contractile properties of the gastrocnemius muscle poststroke. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2008 Dec;105(6):1802-8. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.90930.2008. Epub 2008 Oct 23. — View Citation

Jenkins WM, Merzenich MM. Reorganization of neocortical representations after brain injury: a neurophysiological model of the bases of recovery from stroke. Prog Brain Res. 1987;71:249-66. doi: 10.1016/s0079-6123(08)61829-4. No abstract available. — View Citation

Krakauer JW, Carmichael ST, Corbett D, Wittenberg GF. Getting neurorehabilitation right: what can be learned from animal models? Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2012 Oct;26(8):923-31. doi: 10.1177/1545968312440745. Epub 2012 Mar 30. — View Citation

Langhorne P, Bernhardt J, Kwakkel G. Stroke rehabilitation. Lancet. 2011 May 14;377(9778):1693-702. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60325-5. — View Citation

Nudo RJ, Milliken GW. Reorganization of movement representations in primary motor cortex following focal ischemic infarcts in adult squirrel monkeys. J Neurophysiol. 1996 May;75(5):2144-9. doi: 10.1152/jn.1996.75.5.2144. — View Citation

Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology and the Practice Committee of the Child Neurology Society; Delgado MR, Hirtz D, Aisen M, Ashwal S, Fehlings DL, McLaughlin J, Morrison LA, Shrader MW, Tilton A, Vargus-Adams J. Practice parameter: pharmacologic treatment of spasticity in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (an evidence-based review): report of the Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology and the Practice Committee of the Child Neurology Society. Neurology. 2010 Jan 26;74(4):336-43. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181cbcd2f. — View Citation

Ren Y, Wu YN, Yang CY, Xu T, Harvey RL, Zhang LQ. Developing a Wearable Ankle Rehabilitation Robotic Device for in-Bed Acute Stroke Rehabilitation. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2017 Jun;25(6):589-596. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2016.2584003. Epub 2016 Jun 22. — View Citation

Sanger TD, Delgado MR, Gaebler-Spira D, Hallett M, Mink JW; Task Force on Childhood Motor Disorders. Classification and definition of disorders causing hypertonia in childhood. Pediatrics. 2003 Jan;111(1):e89-97. doi: 10.1542/peds.111.1.e89. — View Citation

Selles RW, Li X, Lin F, Chung SG, Roth EJ, Zhang LQ. Feedback-controlled and programmed stretching of the ankle plantarflexors and dorsiflexors in stroke: effects of a 4-week intervention program. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2005 Dec;86(12):2330-6. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2005.07.305. — View Citation

Sukal-Moulton T, Clancy T, Zhang LQ, Gaebler-Spira D. Clinical application of a robotic ankle training program for cerebral palsy compared to the research laboratory application: does it translate to practice? Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2014 Aug;95(8):1433-40. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2014.04.010. Epub 2014 May 2. — View Citation

Waldman G, Yang CY, Ren Y, Liu L, Guo X, Harvey RL, Roth EJ, Zhang LQ. Effects of robot-guided passive stretching and active movement training of ankle and mobility impairments in stroke. NeuroRehabilitation. 2013;32(3):625-34. doi: 10.3233/NRE-130885. — View Citation

Wu YN, Hwang M, Ren Y, Gaebler-Spira D, Zhang LQ. Combined passive stretching and active movement rehabilitation of lower-limb impairments in children with cerebral palsy using a portable robot. Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2011 May;25(4):378-85. doi: 10.1177/1545968310388666. Epub 2011 Feb 22. — View Citation

Wu YN, Ren Y, Goldsmith A, Gaebler D, Liu SQ, Zhang LQ. Characterization of spasticity in cerebral palsy: dependence of catch angle on velocity. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2010 Jun;52(6):563-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2009.03602.x. Epub 2010 Jan 28. — View Citation

Xerri C, Merzenich MM, Peterson BE, Jenkins W. Plasticity of primary somatosensory cortex paralleling sensorimotor skill recovery from stroke in adult monkeys. J Neurophysiol. 1998 Apr;79(4):2119-48. doi: 10.1152/jn.1998.79.4.2119. — View Citation

Yang CY, Guo X, Ren Y, Kang SH, Zhang LQ. Position-dependent, hyperexcitable patellar reflex dynamics in chronic stroke. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2013 Feb;94(2):391-400. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2012.09.029. Epub 2012 Oct 11. — View Citation

Zhang C, Huang MZ, Kehs GJ, Braun RG, Cole JW, Zhang LQ. Intensive In-Bed Sensorimotor Rehabilitation of Early Subacute Stroke Survivors With Severe Hemiplegia Using a Wearable Robot. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2021;29:2252-2259. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2021.3121204. Epub 2021 Nov 4. — View Citation

Zhang LQ, Chung SG, Ren Y, Liu L, Roth EJ, Rymer WZ. Simultaneous characterizations of reflex and nonreflex dynamic and static changes in spastic hemiparesis. J Neurophysiol. 2013 Jul;110(2):418-30. doi: 10.1152/jn.00573.2012. Epub 2013 May 1. — View Citation

Zhang LQ, Rymer WZ. Reflex and intrinsic changes induced by fatigue of human elbow extensor muscles. J Neurophysiol. 2001 Sep;86(3):1086-94. doi: 10.1152/jn.2001.86.3.1086. — View Citation

Zhang LQ, Wang G, Nishida T, Xu D, Sliwa JA, Rymer WZ. Hyperactive tendon reflexes in spastic multiple sclerosis: measures and mechanisms of action. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2000 Jul;81(7):901-9. doi: 10.1053/apmr.2000.5582. — View Citation

Zhao H, Wu YN, Hwang M, Ren Y, Gao F, Gaebler-Spira D, Zhang LQ. Changes of calf muscle-tendon biomechanical properties induced by passive-stretching and active-movement training in children with cerebral palsy. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2011 Aug;111(2):435-42. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.01361.2010. Epub 2011 May 19. — View Citation

* Note: There are 28 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Fugl-Meyer Lower Extremity (FMLE)	The Fugl-Meyer Lower Extremity (FMLE) assessment is a measure of lower extremity (LE) motor and sensory impairments. The FMLE scale ranges from 0 to 34, with higher scores indicating better motor function.	At the beginning and end of 3-week training, and 1 month after the treatment ends]
Secondary	Active range of motion (AROM)	AROM will be measured in degrees in the ankle joint while subjects use the muscles to move the ankle.	At the beginning and end of 3-week training, and 1 month after the treatment ends
Secondary	Passive Range of Motion (PROM) will be measured in degrees in the ankle joint while the robot moves the ankle of the subject strongly.	Passive Range of Motion PROM will be measured in degrees in the ankle joint while the robot moves the ankle of the subject strongly.	At the beginning and end of 3-week training, and 1 month after the treatment ends
Secondary	Strength of the ankle flexor-extensor muscle will be measured in Newtons	Strength of the ankle flexor-extensor muscle will be measured in Newtons	At the beginning and end of 3-week training, and 1 month after the treatment ends
Secondary	Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS)	The Modified Ashworth Scale is the most widely used assessment tool to measure resistance to limb movement in a clinic setting. Scores range from 0-4, with 6 choices. 0 (0) - No increase in muscle tone; 1 (1) - Slight increase in muscle tone, manifested by a catch and release or by minimal resistance at the end of the range of motion when the affected part(s) is moved in flexion or extension; 1+ (2) - Slight increase in muscle tone, manifested by a catch, followed by minimal resistance throughout the remainder (less than half) of the ROM (range of movement); 2 (3) - More marked increase in muscle tone through most of the ROM, but affect part(s) easily moved; 3 (4) - Considerable increase in muscle tone passive, movement difficult; 4 (5) - Affected part(s) rigid in flexion or extension.	At the beginning and end of 3-week training, and 1 month after the treatment ends
Secondary	Berg Balance Scale	The Berg balance scale is used to objectively determine a patient's ability (or inability) to safely balance during a series of predetermined tasks. The Berg balance scale ranges from 0 to 56. It is a 14-item list with each item consisting of a five-point ordinal scale ranging from 0 to 4, with 0 indicating the lowest level of function and 4 the highest level of function.	At the beginning and end of 3-week training, and 1 month after the treatment ends
Secondary	10-meter Walk Test	The 10 Meter Walk Test is a performance measure used to assess walking speed in meters per second over a short distance at the beginning and end of 3-week training, and 1 month after the treatment ends. It can be employed to determine functional mobility and gait function.	At the beginning and end of 3-week training, and 1 month after the treatment ends