Over the past decades, stroke outcomes have improved due to enormous advances in acute stroke treatment including the implementation of evidence-based reperfusion therapies such as thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy, as well as the recognition of the importance of multidisciplinary care in stroke units. In addition, increasing knowledge about brain function, repair mechanisms, and therapy or rehabilitation interventions across the stroke continuum to promote recovery, informed by both animal and human studies, is helping shape both research and practice. Yet, a gap exists between researchers in acute stroke and in recovery/rehabilitation, evident in choices about relevant outcomes, targets for therapies, pairing of behavioral training with other interventions, and roles of neural variables not directly related to the lesion such as subclinical white matter damage pre-stroke, as well as the impact of psychosocial factors such as motivation, mood/affect, and social support. Bridging this gap has the potential to benefit all.
The goal of this Research Topic is to bridge this scientific gap by combining efforts from investigators engaged across the stroke continuum of care, from acute stroke treatment to long-term rehabilitation, with investigators that aim to understand mechanisms of plasticity to formulate hypotheses, discuss advances in their fields, and answer questions that can broaden the view of stroke research by fostering collaborative and game-changing studies. This Research Topic is expected to provide an integrated approach to span the continuum of stroke and to change the focus from the limited scope of an acute, focal lesion to the effects of this lesion in the context of preexisting patterns of connectivity, behavior, or social interactions. This Research Topic also aims to include studies that provide insight into the relation between blood flow and plasticity, as well as the role of unaffected brain areas, motivation, and other factors not related to the stroke lesion itself, on outcomes that are relevant to people affected by stroke.
We welcome submissions of manuscripts (Original Research, Systematic Review, Review, Hypothesis and Theory, Perspective, Clinical Trial, Brief Research Report, Opinion, Study Protocol) focused on but not limited to the following topics in humans or animals:
• Mechanisms of action in acute versus rehabilitation stroke trials: understanding how recovery is defined across the continuum of care
• From focal to global: acute stroke lesions and disruption of the connectome
• Definitions of eloquent brain areas that impact recovery
• Outcomes in acute versus rehabilitation stroke trials: understanding what matters to persons with stroke
• Role of self-efficacy, empowerment, and control, or strengthening family engagement on recovery after stroke
• Role of motivation and reward
• Impact of frailty, comorbidities, large-artery atherosclerosis, unaffected areas, white matter disease, microbleeds, cortical thickness on stroke severity and recovery
• Modifiers of brain health pre-stroke, how these are measured, and their relationship to recovery
• Surrogate markers of stroke recovery, using neuroimaging and other physiological measures
• Relevance of changes in connectivity to outcomes
• The relation between (micro)perfusion, cerebrovascular reactivity, and brain plasticity
• Neuromodulation or other intervention approaches (including exercise) to modulate blood flow and stroke recovery
• Further insights into therapeutic windows for interventions in acute care and rehabilitation
• Rehabilitation early after stroke: how, when, how much?
Over the past decades, stroke outcomes have improved due to enormous advances in acute stroke treatment including the implementation of evidence-based reperfusion therapies such as thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy, as well as the recognition of the importance of multidisciplinary care in stroke units. In addition, increasing knowledge about brain function, repair mechanisms, and therapy or rehabilitation interventions across the stroke continuum to promote recovery, informed by both animal and human studies, is helping shape both research and practice. Yet, a gap exists between researchers in acute stroke and in recovery/rehabilitation, evident in choices about relevant outcomes, targets for therapies, pairing of behavioral training with other interventions, and roles of neural variables not directly related to the lesion such as subclinical white matter damage pre-stroke, as well as the impact of psychosocial factors such as motivation, mood/affect, and social support. Bridging this gap has the potential to benefit all.
The goal of this Research Topic is to bridge this scientific gap by combining efforts from investigators engaged across the stroke continuum of care, from acute stroke treatment to long-term rehabilitation, with investigators that aim to understand mechanisms of plasticity to formulate hypotheses, discuss advances in their fields, and answer questions that can broaden the view of stroke research by fostering collaborative and game-changing studies. This Research Topic is expected to provide an integrated approach to span the continuum of stroke and to change the focus from the limited scope of an acute, focal lesion to the effects of this lesion in the context of preexisting patterns of connectivity, behavior, or social interactions. This Research Topic also aims to include studies that provide insight into the relation between blood flow and plasticity, as well as the role of unaffected brain areas, motivation, and other factors not related to the stroke lesion itself, on outcomes that are relevant to people affected by stroke.
We welcome submissions of manuscripts (Original Research, Systematic Review, Review, Hypothesis and Theory, Perspective, Clinical Trial, Brief Research Report, Opinion, Study Protocol) focused on but not limited to the following topics in humans or animals:
• Mechanisms of action in acute versus rehabilitation stroke trials: understanding how recovery is defined across the continuum of care
• From focal to global: acute stroke lesions and disruption of the connectome
• Definitions of eloquent brain areas that impact recovery
• Outcomes in acute versus rehabilitation stroke trials: understanding what matters to persons with stroke
• Role of self-efficacy, empowerment, and control, or strengthening family engagement on recovery after stroke
• Role of motivation and reward
• Impact of frailty, comorbidities, large-artery atherosclerosis, unaffected areas, white matter disease, microbleeds, cortical thickness on stroke severity and recovery
• Modifiers of brain health pre-stroke, how these are measured, and their relationship to recovery
• Surrogate markers of stroke recovery, using neuroimaging and other physiological measures
• Relevance of changes in connectivity to outcomes
• The relation between (micro)perfusion, cerebrovascular reactivity, and brain plasticity
• Neuromodulation or other intervention approaches (including exercise) to modulate blood flow and stroke recovery
• Further insights into therapeutic windows for interventions in acute care and rehabilitation
• Rehabilitation early after stroke: how, when, how much?