Psilocybin-Induced Neuroplasticity and Sustained Antidepressant Effects.

Well, hasn't your competent? doctor already prescribed various types of psychedelics to get you recovered? 

What about all these drugs for stroke recovery? Doesn't your doctor read the literature AND create protocols from that research? NO? SO TOTALLY INCOMPETENT THEN?

DMT (8 posts to November 2020)

ecstasy (19 posts to November 2012)

LSD (5 posts to September 2018)

CerAxon (5 posts to January 2012)

citicoline (15 posts to October 2011)

magic mushrooms (10 posts to October 2014) 

psilocybin (14 posts to May 2014)

Psychedelics (25 posts to August 2018)

My 13 reasons for marijuana use post-stroke.  

Don't follow me, I'm not medically trained, and I don't have a Dr. in front of my name. 

The latest here:

 Psilocybin-Induced Neuroplasticity and Sustained Antidepressant Effects.

Author: Anna Komarczewska, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7378-2607 E-mail: lek.komarczewska@wp.pl Rydygier Provincial Integrated Hospital in Toruń, Toruń, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland 

 Filip Matusiak, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0538-6443 E-mail: f.matusiak98@gmail.com Jan Biziel University Hospital No. 2 in Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, PL  

Klaudia Brzoza, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0950-4514 E-mail: klaudiabrzoza99@gmail.com Jan Biziel University Hospital No. 2 in Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, PL 

 Michał Kociński, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7651-7929 E-mail: michal.kocinski1999@gmail.com Jan Biziel University Hospital No. 2 in Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, PL 

 Patryk Iglewski, ORCID:https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6611-2168ttps://o E-mail: patryk.iglewski01@gmail.com Rydygier Provincial Integrated Hospital in Toruń, Toruń, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland 

 Michał Pietrasz, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8148-7487 E-mail: michal.pietrasz252@gmail.com Rydygier Provincial Integrated Hospital in Toruń, Toruń, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland 

 Corresponding Author: Anna Komarczewska lek.komarczewska@wp.pl

Abstract 

 Psilocybin-assisted interventions have shown rapid reductions in depressive symptoms in controlled clinical settings, raising questions about biological mechanisms supporting durability beyond the acute drug effect. [5,7] Mechanistic accounts increasingly focus on neuroplasticity as a candidate pathway linking transient serotonergic receptor activation to longer-lasting psychological and clinical change. [2,6] To synthesize evidence from the 2 publications regarding (1) antidepressant clinical outcomes after psilocybin-assisted interventions and (2) neuroplasticity-related biological findings that plausibly support sustained improvement. [2,3] Narrative review using only (clinical trials/secondary analyses and mechanistic animal/neuroimaging work). Evidence was summarized qualitatively; no meta analysis was performed. [2,16] Randomized and open-label clinical studies report rapid symptom reduction and follow-up persistence in major depression and cancer-related depression/anxiety, including six-month outcomes in treatment-resistant depression (TRD) protocols with psychological support. [4,5,7,19] Preclinical work provides convergent evidence of plasticity-relevant change after psilocybin, including structural synaptic remodeling in frontal cortex and hippocampal plasticity-related outcomes in extinction learning paradigms. [3,8] Human neuroimaging work reports changes consistent with altered large-scale brain dynamics after psilocybin and TRD-related mechanistic findings on fMRI. [6,20] Across the uploaded dataset, psilocybin-assisted therapy is associated with rapid antidepressant effects and durability signals in selected samples, while convergent animal and human mechanistic findings support neuroplasticity as a biologically plausible contributor to sustained clinical improvement. [2,3]

Is Lithium Orotate the Key to Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease?

 

Do you have ANY CONFIDENCE AT ALL that your stroke medical 'professionals' will get human testing going?

Do you prefer your doctor, hospital and board of director's incompetence NOT KNOWING? OR NOT DOING? Your choice; let them be incompetent or demand action!

Is Lithium Orotate the Key to Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease?

This transcript has been edited for clarity. 

Hello. I’m Dr JoAnn Manson, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. I’d like to talk with you about a recent exciting and potentially breakthrough study, published in Nature, that suggests a novel approach to preventing Alzheimer’s disease. 

The research was led by Dr Bruce Yankner and colleagues at Harvard Medical School. They conducted a series of studies that pointed to a promising role of lithium orotate in reducing Alzheimer’s risk. I’ll briefly summarize the lines of evidence but want to emphasize that these findings need to be confirmed by a rigorous randomized trial before lithium orotate should be considered ready for primetime. Our research group, in collaboration with Dr Yankner, will soon be launching such a large-scale human trial and appreciate the philanthropic support that has made this possible. 

The lines of evidence supporting a role of lithium orotate in dementia prevention include the following, as reported in the Nature article. The researchers were able to do this research because they had access to post-mortem brain tissue across several groups: people with no cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s disease. They evaluated 27 different metals, and lithium was the only metal that showed significantly lower levels in the postmortem brains of people with cognitive impairment, and especially those with Alzheimer’s disease, compared with cognitively healthy individuals. They also found that the amyloid beta plaques bind and trap lithium, which further reduces lithium availability in the brain and also suggests that lithium loss may be an early and specific biochemical change in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. 

The researchers also conducted studies in mice to assess causation. They fed mice a lithium-restricted diet and found that they developed accelerated amyloid beta and tau pathology, neuroinflammation-reduced myelin, synapse loss, and memory and cognitive deficits. The changes were similar to the hallmark features of human Alzheimer’s disease. They then tested 16 different lithium salts and identified lithium orotate as having several unique and promising features, including low binding to amyloid beta (avoiding the trap that limited other lithium salts), the ability to restore lithium availability in the brain, and cognitive and pathological improvement in the mouse brain. 

In both Alzheimer’s disease mouse models and aging wild-type mice, lithium orotate prevented and reversed amyloid plaque and tau accumulation, other pathological brain changes, and cognitive decline and memory loss.

Prior to this research, only limited data were available on this topic. There were some epidemiologic observational studies, such as a few linking higher lithium levels in drinking water with lower dementia incidence, but prior research on lithium use and dementia risk has been inconclusive. Additionally, high doses of traditional lithium salts, such as lithium carbonate used for bipolar disorder, can be toxic and poorly tolerated, especially in older adults, so we still need confirmatory randomized trials of lithium orotate and dementia prevention in humans. 

The formulation appears to matter. Lithium orotate is an amyloid-evading salt, and it has not been tested in well-controlled human trials. Its safety, efficacy, and long-term tolerability remain unknown. Routine clinical use of lithium orotate isn’t yet ready for prime time until such trials are completed, but these are exciting findings that may hold the key to a novel approach to preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

Reed Pens Op-Ed About Bolstering Whole-Person Recovery for NC Stroke Survivors

 The solution you are completely missing is 100% RECOVERY PROTOCOLS FOR ALL!

GET THERE!

Reed Pens Op-Ed About Bolstering Whole-Person Recovery for NC Stroke Survivors

Frances Reed, UNC School of Medicine 3rd-year medical student and 2025-26 NC Schweitzer Fellow, pens op-ed about the challenges faced by many stroke survivors and families.

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Frances Reed, UNC School of Medicine 3rd-year medical student and 2025-26 NC Schweitzer Fellow

Frances Reed, UNC School of Medicine 3rd-year medical student and 2025-26 NC Schweitzer Fellow, pens op-ed about the challenges faced by many stroke survivors and families. In this article, she shares more about the need for rural rehab services and improving access to community-based programs.

In North Carolina, positioned within the “Stroke Belt”, surviving a stroke is just the beginning of a long journey. What comes next, the months and years of recovery, is where many survivors and families face their hardest battles. In rural communities, where resources are few and travel to care is long, those battles often happen in isolation.

Imagine a young father in North Carolina who had a stroke in his 30s.* His life was saved, thanks to excellent acute care. But when he returned home, he stepped into a very different landscape. He had aphasia, a disorder that affects language and communication, and he and his family struggled to communicate with each other in the most difficult of times. He felt fatigued by the simplest tasks and was incredibly anxious about the future and his ability to be a father to his children. Imagine another survivor who had her stroke mid-career and was making progress in her rehabilitation therapies, hopeful to return to work in the future. Suddenly, she lost Medicaid coverage, and she was devastated and confounded by the change in her eligibility and the search for possible recourse. Without coverage, she couldn’t continue speech or physical therapy. Without therapy, her progress stalled, and hope felt far away, allowing depression to take a deeper hold. Post-stroke anxiety and depression are experienced by almost half of survivors for many years after their stroke.(There would be none with EXACT 100% recovery protocols! Your survivors would be counting the reps and looking forward to recovery! Why aren't your professors teaching this option? Too hard?)

As a medical student and an AHEC Schweitzer Fellow working to establish a peer-support system for stroke survivors in NC, I have encountered stories like these far too often. After discharge, stroke survivors enter what feels like a care desert: shortages of local rehab therapy and primary care providers, restrictive insurance limits, and long travel and wait times that make attending necessary appointments nearly impossible for many. North Carolina Medicaid, like many insurance plans, only allows a limited number of physical, occupational, and speech therapy visits, creating a woefully short time window in which to produce meaningful improvements that massively impact one’s quality of life. Additionally, many stroke survivors are never connected to mental health services upon discharge.

Even when rehabilitation is technically covered, many rural survivors simply can’t access it. Some rural counties have no full-time neuro-rehab program or speech-language therapist. Survivors may travel one or two hours for a 45-minute session; a burden made even more difficult by transportation challenges, weather, or caregivers who can’t miss more work. This is not a lack of personal responsibility and effort. It is a functional denial of care created by geography, finances, and fragile healthcare infrastructure.

With federal Medicaid funding projected to shrink by nearly $50 billion statewide over the next decade due to H.R. 1, rural rehab services are at real risk of disappearing altogether. Even if health systems can continue offering emergency and primary care, stroke survivors could lose their best path back to walking, speaking, driving, working, or caring for their families. When care systems are pulled back, families step in and shoulder the physical, emotional, and financial weight of caregiving. Caregivers often reduce work hours or leave jobs, adding financial strain to emotional exhaustion. Survivors, aware of this strain, frequently describe feeling like a burden to loved ones. High rates of depression and anxiety should then be no surprise, and isolation deepens the wounds left behind by the stroke itself.

However, there is hope, and it often starts in community. Recovery is not only medical; it is relational. Stroke survivors, just like all people, heal through connection, encouragement, and belonging. In Black Mountain, just outside of Asheville,Stronger Together Wellness, founded by stroke survivor and NC peer support specialist Matt McCoy, offers that connection. This community-based program helps survivors and their families navigate resources, ensuring access to essential tools, therapies, and information needed for effective rehabilitation, and fostering strong peer relationships to empower survivors to reach their goals and re-enter meaningful roles. For many survivors, it can become the bridge between surviving a stroke and reclaiming their lives.

Another NC stroke survivor, Michael Erwin, saw an opportunity to reduce detrimental gaps in rehab coverage that he experienced and started BELIEVE, a stroke recovery foundation that reduces the financial burden of rehab therapies for stroke survivors whose insurance coverage has run out.

North Carolina has made tremendous strides in improving stroke detection and emergency care. Those advances have saved countless lives. But it’s time to invest more in the quality of those lives. Our state must strengthen rehabilitation coverage, support rural health systems, and improve access to and bolster community-based programs such as Stronger Together Wellness and BELIEVE that meet survivors’ holistic needs after stroke.

If we can save lives in the crucial first minutes of strokes, surely we can also help North Carolinians meaningfully reclaim their lives in the years that follow.

You can support Stronger Together Wellness and BELIEVE by donating via their hyperlinks.

* Survivor stories are a compilation of true experiences to maintain individuals’ privacy.[1] 

Frances Reed, UNC School of Medicine, Class of 2028, 2025-2026 AHEC Schweitzer Fellow

The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of the Fellowship or the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Full-Fat Cheese and Cream Intake Linked to Lower Dementia Risk in Swedish Study

 

 I bet your incompetent? doctor will ignore this advice just like they ignored the dairy fat one!

dairy fat (42 posts to April 2016)

Full-Fat Cheese and Cream Intake Linked to Lower Dementia Risk in Swedish Study

Longer door-in-door-out times may Worsen Stroke Outcomes and Reduce endovascular therapy Use: Lancet

 No excuses are allowed!  You are still required to get them to 100% recovery!

GET THERE!

Longer door-in-door-out times may Worsen Stroke Outcomes and Reduce endovascular therapy Use: Lancet

 

Scientific statement focused on post-stroke spasticity urges early diagnosis, intervention for improved recovery

 What a pile of shit. Survivors want SPASTICITY CURED! Comeuppance is going to be a bitch when you are the 1 in 4 per WHO that has a stroke? Then you just might want 100% recovery. Survivors don't want your fucking 'improvement' or 'care' about spasticity; THEY WANT IT CURED! And somehow you don't understand that REQUIREMENT!

Scientific statement focused on post-stroke spasticity urges early diagnosis, intervention for improved recovery

by Steven Lee, University of Texas at San Antonio

edited by Stephanie Baum, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

 

 

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Spectrum of motor dysfunction in poststroke spasticity. Spasticity is narrowly defined as velocity-dependent hyperactivity after rapid muscle movement. The full syndrome of interacting deficits in patients with stroke includes impaired voluntary muscle control, involuntary muscle overactivation at rest (hypertonia) or with movement (hyperreflexia), and passive tissue remodeling. Credit: Stroke (2026). DOI: 10.1161/str.0000000000000515

For many stroke survivors, recovery is derailed by painful muscle stiffness and involuntary spasms that limit movement, independence, and quality of life. Often viewed as an unavoidable consequence of stroke, this condition—known as post-stroke spasticity—may instead represent a missed opportunity for earlier, more effective care(NOT RECOVERY!).

A new scientific statement focused on post-stroke spasticity urges a shift in how post-stroke spasticity is recognized and treated, emphasizing early diagnosis, timely intervention, and innovative therapies to reduce long-term disability and improve recovery after stroke. Two researchers at UT Health San Antonio led the statement writing group for the American Heart Association.

The work is published in the journal Stroke.

Post-stroke spasticity causes abnormal muscle tightness and involuntary spasms that can interfere with walking, arm use, daily activities, and participation in rehabilitation. It affects an estimated 30% to 80% of stroke survivors, contributing to higher health care costs, increased caregiver burden, and preventable complications, such as pain, joint contractures, and loss of mobility.

"I see patients every week whose recovery is limited not by the stroke itself, but by muscle stiffness and spasms that were never addressed early," said Sujani Bandela, MD, a neurologist at UT Health San Antonio, the academic health center of The University of Texas at San Antonio. She also is vice chair of the Neural Repair and Rehabilitation Section at the American Academy of Neurology, first author of the Heart Association's scientific statement and vice chair of its writing group.

"When spasticity is recognized and treated sooner, we often have a real opportunity to preserve movement, reduce pain, and help patients stay engaged in their rehabilitation," added Bandela.

The heart association's scientific statement highlights growing evidence that earlier recognition—often within the first three months after a stroke—combined with coordinated rehabilitation and medical therapies may improve functional outcomes and reduce long-term disability. Yet many patients experience delayed diagnosis or receive little or no rehabilitation support, particularly in rural areas and communities with fewer resources.

"Advances in neuroscience, rehabilitation, and technology are giving us new tools to intervene earlier and more effectively after stroke," said senior author of the statement and chair of its writing group, Mark P. Goldberg, MD, professor of neurology and Edward B. LeWinn M.D. Memorial Chair at UT Health San Antonio, and chair-elect of the heart association's Rehabilitation and Recovery Committee within the Stroke Council.

"This scientific statement reflects the growing evidence that earlier, targeted approaches to spasticity could meaningfully improve long-term outcomes for stroke survivors."

The statement advises:

• Greater awareness among patients, caregivers, and health care professionals
• Proactive monitoring of patients at high risk of developing spasticity
• Coordinated, multidisciplinary care(NOT RECOVERY!) including rehabilitation and medical therapy
• Innovative care(NOT RECOVERY!) models, including telehealth, to improve access to specialized care(NOT RECOVERY!)

Access to specialized stroke rehabilitation remains limited in many parts of South Texas and other regions with fewer resources, contributing to persistent gaps in post-stroke recovery. Researchers note that expanding early spasticity care(NOT RECOVERY!) could help reduce long-term disability and improve quality of life for stroke survivors across the region.

"Stroke survivorship is increasing, but recovery is not equal for everyone," Goldberg said. "Improving early access to spasticity care(NOT RECOVERY!) is an important step toward better short- and long-term stroke recovery for all patients."

Goldberg is scheduled to present the statement at the association's International Stroke Conference 2026 in New Orleans on Friday, Feb. 6. Bandela is scheduled to present a course session with a group on spasticity and different case presentations.

Publication details

Sujani Bandela et al, Early Recognition and Intervention for Poststroke Spasticity: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association, Stroke (2026). DOI: 10.1161/str.0000000000000515

Neuroprotective Drug Aids Stroke Recovery in 48 Hours

 Your competent? doctor started figuring out how to use this when it came out last November, right! Oh no, you have an INCOMPETENT DOCTOR, don't you?

Loberamisal injection for the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke: a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II clinical trial November 10, 2025

(We will never get any urgency to solve this as long as we still call it neuroprotection rather than the neuronal cascade of death. Which term suggests urgency to lay people?)

Neuroprotective Drug Aids Stroke Recovery in 48 Hours

American Heart Association

Research Highlights:

• In a phase III clinical trial in China, stroke patients treated intravenously with loberamisal, a novel neuroprotective medication, daily for 10 days starting within 48 hours of stroke symptoms, had a higher proportion of excellent functional outcomes(Excellent is 100% recovery, if it met that, use the correct terminolgy. I can only assume it didn't so a failure!) at 90 days than patients who received a placebo.
• Treatment with loberamisal was considered safe because patients did not have an increased risk of serious side effects or death compared to those in the placebo group.
• Note: The study featured in this news release is a research abstract. Abstracts presented at the American Heart Association's scientific meetings are not peer-reviewed, and the findings are considered preliminary until published as full manuscripts in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 6, 2026 — Stroke patients treated intravenously with loberamisal, a novel neuroprotective medication, daily for 10 days and starting within 48 hours of stroke symptoms, had better recovery(NOT GOOD ENOUGH!) than patients who received a placebo, according to a preliminary late-breaking science presentation at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2026. The meeting, from February 4 to 6, 2026, in New Orleans, is a world premiere meeting for researchers and clinicians dedicated to the science of stroke and brain health.

The study is a Phase III clinical trial, a large-scale study to evaluate the effectiveness of a new treatment. The study goal is to test loberamisal, a new-generation dual-target treatment strategy designed to protect brain cells (neuroprotective agent) within the first 2 days after a stroke.

"Neuroprotective agents may help improve patient outcomes since they are aimed at preserving the function of neurovascular units. However, trials for most of these agents have not been successful," said study author Shuya Li, M.D., director of the Clinical Trial Center and head of the Phase I Clinical Research Unit at Beijing Tiantan Hospital in Beijing. "In this trial, we tested loberamisal, a small-molecule, dual-acting neuroprotective agent that was an effective neuroprotectant in rodent studies. New treatments for stroke may come from multi-target neuroprotective agents, which could lead to important advancements in reducing or preventing disability after a stroke."

The American Stroke Association's new 2026 Guideline for the Early Management of Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke notes that neuroprotection has garnered renewed interest. Current knowledge gaps need to be addressed in future research.

In this study trial participants were patients who received stroke care at 32 centers in China. 998 adults, ages 18 to 80, were treated for 10 days with either a daily, intravenous infusion of 40 mg loberamisal for 10 days or a matched placebo, started within 48 hours of a moderate to severe stroke caused by a blocked vessel. All had a confirmed clogged brain-vessel stroke, and treatment began within 48 hours of when stroke symptoms began. Only about 17% of participants received standard IV clot-busting medication (for example, alteplase), limiting assessment of combined effects of both treatments. Patients who received surgical treatment for the blockage (mechanical thrombectomy) were excluded from the trial.

At 90 days after treatment, the analysis found:

• 69% of participants treated with loberamisal had excellent functional recovery (little to no disability) compared to about 56% in the placebo group.
• The treatment was considered safe because patients did not appear to have an increased risk of serious side effects or death compared to those in the placebo group.

Study limitations include that the trial was conducted only in China, therefore, the results cannot be directly translated to people living in other countries.

"We want to confirm our findings with larger groups of people, including people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, patients with more severe strokes and those who also have had vascular surgery. We need to better understand how loberamisal works by studying biomarkers in multiple population groups," Li said.

Other limitations were that most patients in the study had moderate to severe strokes, which may affect applicability to people who have a more severe stroke. No blood or imaging biomarkers were assessed, which limits the applicability of the study's understanding of how loberamisal affects the body.

Study details, background and design:

• Researchers conducted the multicenter, randomized, double-blind, parallel, placebo-controlled Phase III clinical trial over a 9-month period, from July 2024 to April 2025.
• Although 20 participants did not complete the 90-day follow-up assessment, they were still included in the final statistical analysis.
• Randomization to loberamisal or placebo was computer-generated; neither the investigators nor the participants knew who was receiving the medication or the placebo.
• Trial participants all had National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores between 7 and 20, indicating moderate to severe stroke. (NIHSS is the standard tool used globally to score the severity of strokes.)
• Functional outcomes were measured on the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). A score of 0-1 indicates little to no disability. This score was assessed and determined by trained and certified researchers at the 90-day follow-up, conducted via face-to-face interviews or standardized telephone questionnaires using a structured assessment form.
• Patients were excluded from the study if they had any history of the following: bleeding strokes; severe consciousness impairment; transient attacks; blood pressure higher than 220/120 mm Hg with blood pressure treatment; history of severe mental health condition, dementia, depression or anxiety; severe liver or kidney disease; had undergone vascular surgery; had malignant tumors with a life expectancy of less than 90 days; were pregnant or lactating; had known allergy to loberamisal; major surgery scheduled within four weeks; or if they had participated in another clinical trial. Participants are restricted to enrollment in one clinical trial at a time, which is also a regulatory requirement for industry sponsored clinical trials in China.

Co-authors, their disclosures and funding information are available in the abstract.

Statements and conclusions of studies that are presented at the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association's policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. Abstracts presented at the Association's scientific meetings are not peer-reviewed, rather, they are curated by independent review panels and are considered based on the potential to add to the diversity of scientific issues and views discussed at the meeting. The findings are considered preliminary until published as a full manuscript in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

First Clear Win for Factor XIa Inhibitors in Stroke With Reduced Recurrence, No Increased Bleeding Risk

 Your competent? doctor has been well aware of Asundexian for  the past year and will get a protocol written up immediately, right! WOW, you're delusional if you believe that! 

Asundexian (4 posts to April 2025)

First Clear Win for Factor XIa Inhibitors in Stroke With Reduced Recurrence, No Increased Bleeding Risk

The factor XIa inhibitor, asundexian (Bayer), has finally achieved the holy grail of reducing thrombotic events without increasing bleeding.

In the OCEANIC-STROKE trial, conducted in patients with noncardioembolic ischemic stroke or high-risk transient ischemic attack (TIA) treated with antiplatelet therapy, asundexian 50 mg given orally significantly reduced the occurrence of recurrent ischemic stroke, without causing increased bleeding.

The reduction in recurrent stroke, including disabling or fatal events, was evident early and persisted throughout the treatment period, with a consistent effect across all subgroups.

There was no increase in any type of bleeding, including major, minor, or intracranial bleeding.

“This is a major achievement to separate the bleeding from the stroke reduction. It’s a complete shift in the paradigm. We haven’t seen this before with antithrombotics,” lead study investigator, Mike Sharma, MD, professor of medicine, McMaster University, and senior scientist at the Population Health Research Institute, both in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, told Medscape Medical News.“Generally, interfering with blood clotting will cause some bleeding, but because of where factor XI is in the coagulation cascade, the hypothesis was that clinical efficacy could be dissociated from safety — that it could be possible to prevent recurrent strokes without causing bleeding. And we have showed that very nicely in this trial,” he said.

Sharma presented the results of the OCEANIC-STROKE trial on February 5 at the International Stroke Conference (ISC) 2026.

A New Antithrombotic Approach

Patients who have had a recent stroke or high-risk TIA remain at substantial risk for recurrence, yet options for secondary stroke prevention are limited. While cardioembolic stroke can be effectively treated with anticoagulation, the majority of strokes — which are noncardioembolic — are typically managed long term with single antiplatelet therapy, most commonly aspirin or clopidogrel.

Under the trial protocol, patients received either single or dual antiplatelet therapy, with 66% initially treated with dual therapy. The efficacy of asundexian was similar regardless of whether patients were treated with single or dual antiplatelet therapy.

Dual antiplatelet therapy can be used for a short initial period, but it is not typically continued long term because of the risk for bleeding. As a result, many patients remain at high risk for recurrence.

Factor XIa inhibitors represent a novel antithrombotic approach that is believed to carry a lower risk for bleeding.

“While we’re all obviously concerned about major bleeding which can result in hospitalization, transfusion, or even disability and death, minor bleeding also causes fear and anxiety for patients and often leads them to stop their medications. So we were very pleasantly surprised that in this trial there was a significant reduction in stroke without an increase in any type of bleeding — even minor bleeding,” said Sharma.

The O CEANIC-STROKE trial was conducted to investigate whether adding a factor XIa inhibitor to antiplatelet therapy could reduce the risk for recurrent stroke without causing an increase in bleeding.

The trial included 12,300 patients who were within 72 hours of a noncardioembolic stroke (95%) or high-risk TIA (5%), managed with single or dual antiplatelet therapy. They were randomly assigned to receive asundexian 50 mg administered orally once daily or placebo.

‘Impressive’ Reduction in Recurrence

Under the trial protocol, patients received either single or dual antiplatelet therapy, with 66% initially treated with dual therapy. The efficacy of asundexian was similar regardless of whether patients were treated with single or dual antiplatelet therapy.

In addition to the primary endpoint of recurrent ischemic stroke, secondary efficacy endpoints were also reduced with asundexian, including ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, cardiovascular death/myocardial infarction (MI)/stroke, all-cause mortality/MI/stroke, and disabling/fatal stroke.

The primary safety outcome was major bleeding as defined by the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, which was similar between groups, occurring in 1.9% of patients receiving asundexian and 1.7% of those receiving placebo (HR, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.85-1.44).

All other safety endpoints and bleeding types were also comparable between the two groups.

Sharma described the reduction in recurrent ischemic stroke with asundexian as “impressive,” highlighting an absolute risk reduction of 1.9% at 1 year. This translated into a hazard ratio of 0.74 (95% CI, 0.65-0.84; P < .001) and a number needed to treat of 53 to prevent one recurrent stroke at 1 year, which fell to about 44 with longer-term follow-up.

“That is very pleasing for a secondary preventive therapy and is about double the effect seen with statins for secondary prevention in stroke,” he noted.

Sharma’s presentation was interrupted by applause from the audience when he revealed the efficacy and safety results.

Elaborating on the findings, he pointed out that the positive effect on stroke reduction continued for as long as the drug was continued and noted that the risk for bleeding with asundexian did not increase over time and, in fact, actually decreased as time went on.

He said follow-up now extends out to 18 months to 2 years, and although participant numbers decline over time, there is no indication that the treatment effect wanes. On that basis, he said he believes the drug should be continued for as long as patients remain at risk for stroke, which is a persistent risk.

Sharma described asundexian as “a new mode of treatment, which is an improvement on aspirin or clopidogrel for secondary stroke prevention, especially over the long term.”

“We now have something that works on top of antiplatelets, that very safely reduces the occurrence of stroke substantially, and really doesn’t have the bleeding price to pay that we’ve seen in other trials with antithrombotics,” he said.

Sharma added that the results were strong and consistent, with benefits seen across all groups and no safety signal, making him confident the drug will be widely adopted once it’s approved.

Dry needling with intramuscular electrical stimulation as an adjunct neurorestoration approach for limb hemiparesis following stroke

 You'll have to check with your stroke medical 'professionals' if they can do this and the efficacy of it.

dry needling (6 posts to July 2017)

Dry needling with intramuscular electrical stimulation as an adjunct neurorestoration approach for limb hemiparesis following stroke

 Hemiparesis is a leading contributor to impaired daily functioning following stroke, making neurorestorative approaches essential for improving motor function. Dry Needling (DN) is an intervention that targets underlying neural, muscular, and connective tissues by utilizing a thin monofilament needle. When combined with intramuscular electrical stimulation, DN has the potential to enhance both afferent and efferent neural pathways in stroke patients. While commonly used for spasticity, recent studies suggest that DN can improve functional recovery and motor outcomes in stroke neurorestorative program.

Get full text access

New risk assessment tool may help predict dementia after a stroke

 

'Assessments', biomarkers and predictions don't get you recovered, only EXACT PROTOCOLS DO! SURVIVORS WANT RECOVERY/DEMENTIA PREVENTION! GET THERE!

I'd fire everyone involved with this crapola! You're predicting based on the failure of the status quo! Change the status quo, you blithering idiots!

The only possibility of assessments being useful is if they POINT DIRECTLY TO EXACT REHAB PROTOCOLS! This did nothing towards that so completely fucking useless!

Predictions like this NEVER GET ANYONE RECOVERED! I'd have you all fired for incompetency in not solving stroke!

New risk assessment tool may help predict dementia after a stroke

             American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference 2026, Abstract A109

Research Highlights:

• A new risk prediction tool was able to accurately identify stroke survivors with the highest risk for developing dementia within a decade of having a stroke, according to a large study in Canada.
• Factors linked with a higher risk of developing dementia after a stroke included being older, having any disability before the stroke, having a higher level of disability after the stroke, having an intracerebral hemorrhage (compared to an ischemic stroke), having diabetes, experiencing cognitive symptoms during hospitalization or suffering from depression.
• Knowing the risk of developing dementia after a stroke can help researchers design better clinical trials and interventions. It can also guide the recruitment of patients who are eligible to participate in efforts to lower the risk of dementia.
• Note: The study featured in this news release is a research abstract. Abstracts presented at the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s scientific meetings are not peer-reviewed, and the findings are considered preliminary until published as a full manuscript in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026

DALLAS, Jan. 29, 2026 — A new risk calculator accurately estimated the likelihood of adults developing dementia within ten years after a stroke, according to a preliminary study to be presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2026. The meeting is in New Orleans, Feb. 4-6, 2026, and is a world premier meeting for researchers and clinicians dedicated to the science of stroke and brain health.

According to researchers, people with stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) are at high risk of subsequent dementia, but prediction tools for dementia are lacking.

“Our previous research found that about 1 in 3 adults developed dementia after stroke over the long-term. We created a new tool that can stratify people into five different levels of dementia risk after stroke based on underlying health, stroke characteristics and risk factors,” said lead study author Raed A. Joundi, M.D., D.Phil., M.Sc., an assistant professor in the department of medicine at McMaster University, a stroke neurologist at Hamilton Health Sciences, a scientist at the Population Health Research Institute, all in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and an adjunct scientist at ICES Central in Toronto (where the statistical analysis was done).

“The goal is to have a practical, bedside tool that can predict dementia risk after a stroke. Our tool predicts dementia rates that are very close to the observed rates and may help to enroll high-risk patients who have had transient ischemic attack, ischemic stroke or intracerebral hemorrhage in clinical trials that are focused on reducing the long-term risk of dementia.”

Researchers examined health records for nearly 50,000 adults hospitalized with stroke to create and validate a risk model to estimate which stroke survivors have the highest risk of developing dementia. The data from the Ontario Stroke Registry included hospital admissions due to stroke between 2002 and 2013 in Canada. Study participants drawn from the registry for derivation of the risk score included 7,554 adults with transient ischemic attack (TIA), 13,833 with ischemic stroke and 2,340 with intracerebral hemorrhage. The participants were discharged from the hospital without a diagnosis of dementia, and all were followed for a diagnosis of dementia through March 2024 (average of 7.5 years after stroke) based on administrative health data.

Researchers examined the rates of dementia calculated by the new tool and compared them to the observed rates of dementia. The score was derived in the Ontario Stroke Registry (11 regional stroke centers) and validated in the Ontario Stroke Audit, a separate, randomly selected sample of patients from all hospitals in the province.

The analysis found:

• For people who had a transient ischemic attack, the top factors associated with increased dementia risk were older age, needing help with activities of daily living prior to TIA, having diabetes, depression, cognitive symptoms on presentation (such as memory, judgment or attention) and any disability at hospital discharge.
• The main risk factors associated with developing dementia for people with stroke were being older, being female, having diabetes, depression, intracerebral hemorrhage (compared to ischemic stroke), cognitive symptoms during hospitalization or greater disability at hospital discharge.
• The risk calculator used the top risk factors for dementia to categorize individuals into different levels of estimated risk over the next 10 years after a stroke. Those in the highest category of estimated risk had a 50% probability of dementia over 10 years, versus participants in the lowest category of risk who had a 5% probability of dementia.

The study authors note that the current focus of the dementia risk prediction tool is to stratify patients into different levels of risk for research studies and clinical trials of dementia prevention, rather than clinical decision-making or treatment.

“Dementia is a serious condition that commonly occurs in the aftermath of a stroke,” Joundi said. “While our traditional focus has been on preventing another stroke, which is very important, we need to pay more attention to the development of dementia and how to prevent it. Over the long-term, dementia is more common than a recurrent stroke. Healthy lifestyle choices and controlling vascular risk factors can lower the risk of dementia, but we need new and effective targeted interventions for dementia prevention.”

Study limitations include that data were not available about the type of dementia that may develop. Researchers did not have access to imaging scans of the study participants, which would offer more detailed information about their stroke location and size or the presence of covert infarcts (small ischemic brain lesions).

American Stroke Association volunteer expert, Deborah A. Levine, M.D., M.P.H., said, “Dementia after a stroke is very difficult for patients and their loved ones, and there aren’t enough effective treatments to help. This well-done study provides a useful tool that could make research faster, so new treatments can get to stroke survivors sooner.” Levine is a professor of internal medicine and neurology, the departments of internal medicine and neurology, the Cognitive Health Services Research and Stroke Programs and the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation at the University of Michigan. Levine was not involved in this study.

Study details, background and design:

• The average age of all participants was 70; 53% of participants were men, and 47% women.
• Using the new risk predictor tool, researchers calculated 1-, 5- and 10-year dementia risk scores, and participants were divided into five groups, ranging from the lowest to the highest risk, based on the risk factors that were present. The risk calculator evaluated the number and the degree of each factor’s contribution to dementia risk, resulting in a composite score that indicates the likelihood of developing dementia in the future.
• Researchers identified risk factors and other characteristics, such as age, diabetes status, depression, disability and sex, then divided patients into five categories of dementia risk based on these risk factors.
• To validate the results, researchers reviewed data on a similar number of stroke admissions from the Ontario Stroke Audit. Dementia risk scores were calculated separately for participants who had a transient ischemic attack vs. a stroke.
• This tool, used prior to discharge from the hospital, has the potential to help physicians assess whether patients might develop long-term dementia.

Co-authors, disclosures and funding sources are listed in the abstract.

Statements and conclusions of studies that are presented at the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association’s policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. Abstracts presented at the Association’s scientific meetings are not peer-reviewed, rather, they are curated by independent review panels and are considered based on the potential to add to the diversity of scientific issues and views discussed at the meeting. The findings are considered preliminary until published as a full manuscript in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

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Additional Resources:

• Video interview clips with American Stroke Association volunteer expert, Deborah A. Levine, M.D., M.P.H., and other multimedia assets are available on the right column of the release link.
• Link to abstract in the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference 2026 Online Program Planner
• New 1/21/2026 - According to the American Heart Association’s 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, stroke is now the #4 leading cause of death in the U.S. Learn more at www.stroke.org or www.DerrameCerebral.org.
• American Heart Association/American Stroke Association: Stroke Hub or in Español. Link to additional health topic Fact Sheets.
• American Stroke Association news release: Risk of dementia was nearly three times higher the first year after a stroke (Feb. 2024)
• AHA Scientific Statement: Cognitive impairment after stroke is common, and early diagnosis and treatment needed (May 2023)
• American Heart Association news release: What do we mean by “brain health” and why should you care about it? (March 2025)
• American Heart Association health initiative: Healthy For Good™
• For more news at American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference 2026, follow us on X @HeartNews #ISC26