New Device Taps Brain Signals To Help Stroke Patients Regain Hand Function

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/06/13/ [login to see] /new-device-taps-brain-signals-to-help-stroke-patients-regain-hand-function
People recovering from a stroke will soon have access to a device that can help restore a disabled hand.

The Food And Drug Administration has authorized a device called IpsiHand, which uses signals from the uninjured side of a patient's brain to help rewire circuits controlling the hand, wrist and arm.

The device can be used at home and offers stroke patients "an additional treatment option to help them move their hands and arms again," said Dr. Christopher Loftus of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health in a statement.

IpsiHand's authorization comes after the FDA reviewed results on patients like Mark Forrest, who had a stroke in 2015.

"We called 911 and off to the hospital I went," Forrest, who lives near St. Louis with his wife, Patti. "By the time I got there most of my right side was paralyzed."

After six months of rehabilitation, Forrest was walking again, but still had little control over his right hand. He struggled to pull on socks and button shirts.