Chapters Transcript Breaking Through Stroke Recovery Plateaus with Vagus Nerve Stimulation at Barnes-Jewish Hospital I live by myself. I want to be independent. Well, I have a sickle cell. I was in the hospital. She was asleep and the nurse came around doing rounds and she couldn't like wake Crystal up or anything and that's when they realized something was wrong. Crystal had her first stroke over a decade ago. She's actually had some smaller strokes on top of that initial stroke that. You know, added to her disability. Somebody had to help me to do everything, but she never gave up trying to maintain her quality of life. Speaking little bit by little bit, I was determined, determined. Vagal nerve stimulation has been around for a couple of decades already, uh, and it's been used to help treat epilepsy, to help treat depression, but this is the first time that it's been approved by the FDA to help promote recovery from stroke in patients who've had a stroke that's a number of months old or even years old. What's really excited about paired vagal nerve stimulation for chronic stroke therapy is that this technique allows our patients to break through that plateau. My doctor told me about it and I was like yeah. Yeah, I wanna do it. One of the neurosurgeons from the Washington University Department of Neurosurgery at Barnes Jewish Hospital will start by making two small incisions, one in the neck to place a very tiny wire or electrode that's gonna stimulate the vagus nerve, and another small one right below the collarbone to place the battery pack, if you will. And then they'll connect the two parts underneath the skin. We're going to drop that wrist, just drop it. After the VNS implant is put in, it can be activated by a little remote device that the treating therapist is able to stimulate the vagus nerve at different time points in the therapy session. The idea being that stimulation of the vagus nerve leads to the release of neuromodulators that help to reinforce the learning that is going on during that therapy session. In addition, the patients themselves are given a magnetic device that they can take home and turn on the stimulator by themselves on their own. Crystal also has the perfect temperament for participating in something like this. In other words, somebody who is focused and dedicated. I don't want to do do, uh uh. Doing it Um, I, I have to. Every time I see Crystal, she amazes me, so it's very exciting to see that progress. At first she, her form was poor, she was having pain with movement, so now she's got more arm function. She can reach straight out, more hand function. She's grasping and releasing by herself, so the progress has been just amazing. In the kitchen, the cups, I can do that. I couldn't do that before, washing my hands, you know, I couldn't do that before. And I know if she's had this kind of improvement in such a short period of time, just imagine what the next 4 months will bring. I did it, you can do it too. Created by
