Brain Plasticity and Rehabilitation in Stroke Patients

New advances in imaging and rehabilitation have shown that the brain can compensate for loss of function due to stroke. If a cell in the brain region responsible for a specific function dies after a stroke, the patient can not perform this function. For example, a stroke patient having an infarct in the brain region responsible for facial recognition can not recognize the face, which is a syndrome called facial autism. But over time, people may recognize their faces again, even though the brain regions that were originally programmed to perform the function are still dead. Recombination of brain plasticity and nerve connections makes it possible for parts of the brain to change functions and to take on more important functions of the disabled. This brain's attempt to automate the rewiring and functional recovery of the brain can be aided by treatment

Most children who have experienced a stroke will do better than most adults after treatment and rehabilitation. This is thanks to the ability to accommodate immature brain plasticity, defects and injuries. Children who have experienced seizures or stroke do not recover like children without seizures. Some children may have residual hemiplegia, but most children eventually will learn to walk. Currently, NINDS researchers are studying the risk factors for stroke and the mechanism of brain damage process due to stroke. Some brain damage is secondary to the initial death of brain cells caused by lack of blood flow in the cerebral blood vessels. This secondary wave of brain injury is mainly a result of a toxic reaction to primary injury, including excitatory neurochemical glutamate. Glutamate in the normal brain acts as a chemical messenger between brain cells and enables them to communicate.