Stroke is a consequence of cerebrovascular disease that interrupts blood flow to part of the brain.  A stroke can be classified as 1) Ischemic – when a blood vessel carrying blood to the brain is blocked by blood clots or by gradual build-up of plaque or 2) Hemorrhagic – when a blood vessel carrying blood to the brain bursts.  Ischemic stroke accounts for almost 85% of all strokes.  Stroke is the third leading cause of death in America and the No. 1 cause of adult disability.  Close to 6 million people in the U.S. currently suffer from the effects of stroke, with approximately 750,000 new cases of stroke each year.  In the large population of stroke survivors, approximately half of those survivors suffer from hand or arm motor impairment.



Current chronic treatment options for stroke patients with upper limb motor impairment is extremely limited, with the standard of care generally consisting of physical rehabilitation and muscle stimulation.  Other emerging therapies include peripheral nerve stimulation, transcutaneous magnetic stimulation and direct cortical stimulation.  All of these new therapies are based on the principle of neural plasticity, whereby existing neural pathways surrounding the injured brain tissue are recruited to perform the same functional tasks lost due to the stroke.   Intelect Medical is developing a DBS therapy to improve the function of those stroke patients with hand or motor impairment by combining traditional rehabilitation methods with targeted deep brain stimulation to improve upper limb function and recovery.