title: A personalized sensor-controlled microstimulator system for arm rehabilitation poststroke. Part 2: Objective outcomes and patients' perspectives.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the effect of home-based electrical stimulation using closed-loop control of implanted microstimulators on upper limb function and impairment, and subjects' perception of the system.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six subjects with poststroke hemiparesis, and reduced upper limb function, who had taken part in Phase 1 of the study, were fitted with a personalized closed-loop control system (Phase 2) and used it at home during performance of functional tasks for 12 weeks (Phase 3). Main outcome measures were: Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), Fugl-Meyer upper limb assessment (FMA), and motor control (Tracking Index). Subjects' perception of the system was assessed in a structured interview.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Improvement in ARAT (p=0.05), FMA (p=0.02), and Tracking Index (p=0.03) during Phase 3. Five subjects said using the system had changed their lives and improved their function, all performed functional tasks with the system, but external components were inconvenient.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Closed-loop control improved in function. Subjective assessment identified that the external sensors were effective.
authors: University of Southampton, School of Health Sciences, and Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, Southampton, UK. jhb1@soton.ac.uk
authors: Jane H
authors: JH
authors: Burridge
authors: Ruth
authors: R
authors: Turk
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Merrill
authors: Bridget
authors: B
authors: Dibb
authors: Ann-Marie
authors: AM
authors: Hughes
authors: Owen
authors: O
authors: Sparrow
authors: Helen
authors: H
authors: Roberts
authors: Ross
authors: R
authors: Davis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008839:Microelectrodes; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D020127:Recovery of Function; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D016896:Treatment Outcome