Post-stroke Recovery (PSR_e2020)

Cerebral stroke is the world's second leading cause of death with an incidence of 6.7 million deaths caused each year. Despite the progress made in the prevention and treatment of acute stroke, it remains the main cause of disability in adulthood in industrialized countries with a prevalence of 40% as regards the degrees of disability that significantly affect common daily activities.

Currently, in Italy, the total number of people with long-term disabilities resulting from a stroke has now exceeded one million. However, the rehabilitation pathways of the therapy for the stroke mainly focus on the first weeks/months after the acute event, not always taking into account patient's needs sufficiently in the chronic phase of the disease (> 4-6 months from a stroke). All this is further aggravated by the difficulty of access to treatment and by the reduction in the quality of life, once the hospital phase of taking charge has ended.

The actual organizational model is based on insufficient evidence regarding the mechanisms of post-injury recovery in the subacute and chronic phase of cerebral stroke together with the poor knowledge of the factors related to it and capable of influencing it. This is because the mechanisms able to condition long-term recovery remain unclear, the expression of which can often be interpreted as the reversibility of the functional phenomena of deconditioning / deterioration typical of the chronic phase of the stroke.

In this regard, considering the framework of multidomain disabilities (sensorimotor, cognitive-behavioural, autonomous and psycho-social) that characterizes patients with cerebral stroke, it is necessary to define different factors (clinical-functional, neurophysiological and neuroimaging, genetic-molecular and psychological) which correlates prospectively with the picture of functional recovery and long-term post-stroke disability. All this in order to describe a profile of biomarkers that characterize patients with greater recovery potential, on which to base the development of innovative rehabilitation protocols (based, in particular, on the use of "self-management" programs and innovative technologies) of long term.

STUDY DESIGN This will be an experimental pilot study, without drug or medical device, single-blind randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The general objective is the study of the effects of a protocol innovative rehabilitation based on self-management for the long-term management of the patient with cerebral stroke together with the definition of a profile of clinical-biological, imaging, neurophysiological and genetic/molecular biomarkers related to the effects of this, better defining the post-stroke disability framework. The objectives of the study are related to the research line called "People suffering from chronic stroke outcomes" of the departmental development project entitled "BEHAVIORS AND WELLNESS: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO PROMOTE THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN VULNERABILITY CONDITIONS".

The study is divided into several Work-packages (WP). In particular, all registered subjects will follow WP1. The other WPs (2 - 7) will be articulated starting from WP1 on the basis of the specific characteristics of each subject included.

OBJECTIVE WP1 As for WP1 (the only interventional WP that defines the main research line), the primary objective is to evaluate the effects of intensive self-management treatment compared to those of "habitual care" on sensory post-stroke sensorimotor disability. The second aspect of WP1 will be: to evaluate the effects of intensive self-management treatment on post-stroke cognitive disability compared to "habitual care"; to evaluate the effects of intensive self-management treatment on post-stroke global disability compared to those of habitual care; evaluate the correlation of structural and functional neuroimaging with the primary outcome (volumetric lesion analysis, lesion site analysis, DTI, fMRI); evaluate the correlation of neurophysiological variables (PEM, PESS, cortical excitability) with the primary outcome.

OBJECTIVE WP2 The main objective of this WP will be to evaluate in patients with ictal damage to different brain regions and investigate complex behavioural functions of fundamental importance for daily life activities. In particular, this WP aims to evaluate cortical plasticity mechanisms through cognitive measures of selective attention (cognitive plasticity) with a view to predicting plasticity in other areas (e.g. motor) in order to guide the planning of rehabilitation protocols more personalized based on the specific characteristics of each patient that take into account the post-stroke multi-domain disability.

OBJECTIVE WP3 The objectives of this WP will be: to explore the characteristics of fatigue (global, physical, mental) in patients suffering from brain stroke outcomes; evaluate markers of the overall health status in patients with brain stroke outcomes; measure the efficiency of walking in patients with brain stroke outcomes.

OBJECTIVE WP4 The goal of this WP is to explore the main psychological characteristics, psychopathology and the presence of psychological distress experienced by patients with stroke and consequent pain. In particular, the idea behind this WP consists in identifying the psychological functioning characteristics typical of the specific pathology on the one hand and the individual aspects on the other, which may have an impact on the rehabilitation process. The usefulness of acting on these aspects could be useful to increase the motivation for neurorehabilitation treatment and its consequent effectiveness.

OBJECTIVE WP5 The objective of this WP is to study changes in the microbiota during disease and after treatment with the aim will be to identify altered bacterial populations. Subsequently, it will be evaluated how lifestyles (movement, psycho-therapeutic approach, etc.) can modify the composition of the microbiota to bring it back to its physiological condition (pre-pathology).

OBJECTIVE WP6 The objective of this WP is to identify a correlation between the expression of miRNA involved in the regulation of neuroplasticity, and prognosis in post-ischemic stroke patients during rehabilitation treatment.

OBJECTIVE WP7 The goal of this WP is the assessment of oxidative stress in the plasma of patients at the onset of the disease and in the rehabilitation recovery phases.

POPULATION Cerebral stroke patients.

The population involved in WP1 will be the starting population from which to derive the population of the other WPs. As for WP 5, 6, 7, the population will follow that of WP1, while the involvement of patients in WP 2, 3, 4 will take place on the basis of further inclusion/exclusion criteria. This means that not all patients enrolled in WP1 will be involved in WP 2, 3, 4.

Enrollment of patients Patients in the sub-acute phase of cerebral stroke (<3 months from the acute event) hospitalized at the UOC Neurorehabilitation of the Integrated University Hospital of Verona (AOUI) will be enrolled. These patients will be offered the opportunity to participate in the study in question, the modalities of which will be presented according to the information document and providing the requested clarifications colloquially. Once informed consent for participation in the study has been obtained, the subject may be subjected to the assessments provided for by WP1 and/or by the other WPs.

Procedures Patients will be enrolled according to the main methods and purposes set out in WP1. Therefore, all enrolled patients will undergo the evaluation and treatment procedures foreseen by WP1. In line with the presence of a post-stroke disability involving multiple domains, subgroups of subjects based on their characteristics can be defined within the sample enrolled for WP1.

LENGHT OF THE STUDY

• First-year - Preparation phase: definition of protocol and WP; presentation of the protocol to the Ethics Committee and its approval; initial acquisition of the devices necessary for carrying out the study and training of the staff for their use.
• Second, third and fourth year - Clinical phase: enrollment, evaluation and treatment of patients; data collection and analysis; progressive acquisition of the devices necessary for carrying out the study and training of the staff for their use; presentation of preliminary results.
• Last year - Final phase: development and implementation of a departmental strategy aimed at integrating the different lines of research developed by the individual areas of intervention; publication of the results obtained.
• Patient involvement: 12 months
• Total duration: 5 years

SAMPLE SIZE Considering as the main outcome measure for WP1 the level of functional impairment measured at the FMA, for which a Minimal Detectable Change value of 5.2 has been defined in the literature, given a level alpha of 5%, a power (beta) of 80% (considering that it is a pilot study) and an SD of 10.2 [28], was calculated that a sample size of 122 total patients (61 for the experimental treatment group and 61 for the control group) may be sufficient to observe any significant difference between the pre and post-treatment conditions. Taking into account a possible drop-out rate of about 10%, the sample size was increased by 12 total subjects (6 for the experimental treatment group and 6 for the control group), reaching a final calculation of 134 patients to enrol.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Adequate descriptive statistics will be produced for each WP (1 - 7) (frequency histograms; position or central trend indices: mean, median; variability or sample dispersion indices: standard deviation, interquartile range; construction of confidence intervals) for regarding demographic data and the various variables taken into consideration at each assessment time (see above).

As for WP1, the comparison between the experimental treatment group and the control group subjected to "usual care", with regard to the outcomes considered (FMA and OCS) in the various evaluation times, will be performed through the use of parametric tests ( t-test, ANOVA) or non-parametric (Kruskal Wallis test, Mann-Whitney test) on the basis of data distribution. Correlation and / or regression analyzes will also be performed between neuroimaging data (structural and functional), neurophysiological variables and the main clinical outcome (FMA) at the various assessment times.

With regard to the remaining WPs (2 - 7), the statistical significance of the variations between groups relative to the variables assessed at different times (vide supra) will be assessed through the use of parametric (t-test, ANOVA) or non-parametric tests (Kruskal Wallis test, Mann-Whitney test) based on data distribution. For each variable considered (both longitudinally and transversely) correlation and/or regression analyzes will also be performed with the main clinical outcome (FMA and OCS) of WP1 at the different evaluation times.

Finally, for each WP the statistical significance of the variations with respect to the variables assessed longitudinally intra-group at different times (vide supra) will be assessed through the use of parametric tests (t-test, ANOVA) or non-parametric tests (Friedman test, Wilcoxon test) based on data distribution.

The statistical analysis will be performed using the Statistical Package for Social Science SPSS® version 26.0 software for Macintosh (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). For all statistical tests, the significance level is set at 5%.