[Source:  Medical News Today]

Using a novel stroke rehabilitation device that converts an individual’s thoughts to electrical impulses to move upper extremities, stroke patients reported improvements in their motor function and ability to perform activities of daily living. Results of the study were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
“Each year, nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke in the United States, and 50 percent of those have some degree of upper extremity disability,” said Vivek Prabhakaran, M.D., Ph.D., director of functional neuroimaging in radiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Rehabilitation sessions with our device allow patients to achieve an additional level of recovery and a higher quality of life.”
Dr. Prabhakaran, along with co-principal investigator Justin Williams, Ph.D., and a multidisciplinary team, built the new rehabilitation device by pairing a functional electrical stimulation (FES) system, which is currently used to help stroke patients recover limb function, and a brain control interface (BCI), which provides a direct communication pathway between the brain and this peripheral stimulation device.
Read the Rest of this Article on Medical News Today