Biomarkers of stroke recovery: Consensus-based core recommendations from the Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable

Lazy fuckers, looking for biomarkers for predicting recovery, rather than doing the difficult work of actually solving the problems in stroke.  Until we get some stroke leadership all the existing and future stroke survivors are screwed.  This shows ZERO leadership.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1747493017714176#articleShareContainer

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Lara A Boyd, Kathryn S Hayward, Nick S Ward, ...

First Published July 12, 2017 Research Article

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Abstract

The most difficult clinical questions in stroke rehabilitation are “What is this patient’s potential for recovery?”(Really?) and “What is the best rehabilitation strategy for this person, given her/his clinical profile?”(There is NO strategy because there are NO protocols) Without answers to these questions, clinicians struggle to make decisions regarding the content and focus of therapy, and researchers design studies that inadvertently mix participants who have a high likelihood of responding with those who do not. Developing and implementing biomarkers that distinguish patient subgroups will help address these issues and unravel the factors important to the recovery process. The goal of the present paper is to provide a consensus statement regarding the current state of the evidence for stroke recovery biomarkers. Biomarkers of motor, somatosensory, cognitive and language domains across the recovery timeline post-stroke are considered; with focus on brain structure and function, and exclusion of blood markers and genetics. We provide evidence for biomarkers that are considered ready to be included in clinical trials, as well as others that are promising but not ready and so represent a developmental priority. We conclude with an example that illustrates the utility of biomarkers in recovery and rehabilitation research, demonstrating how the inclusion of a biomarker may enhance future clinical trials. In this way, we propose a way forward for when and where we can include biomarkers to advance the efficacy of the practice of, and research into, rehabilitation and recovery after stroke.