ESOC 2025 | The implementation of paired vagus nerve stimulation to improve motor recovery in stroke survivors

So in the fields of stroke recovery and specifically in stroke rehabilitation, there have been incredible advancements and interventions largely aimed at facilitating neuroplasticity and facilitating motor impairment reduction for individuals who have experienced chronic stroke. Recently, there’s been an incredible increase in data and use of the paired vagus nerve stimulation in order to facilitate motor recovery. So the intervention works such that individuals receive an invasive implant of a vagus nerve stimulator and then participate in high-intensity therapy. So the data that I’ll be demonstrating in my talk tomorrow will include our pragmatic implementation of this data. So use of the paired vagus nerve stimulation protocol in patients with chronic stroke in our clinic. We additionally take that intervention a step further by looking at the use of not only paired vagus nerve stimulation in functional task training, but also use of paired vagus nerve stimulation with gamified therapy. And our thought was to investigate the use of gamified therapy as a more salient, enjoyable mechanism to facilitate participation in high-intensity rehabilitation. And what our data suggests is that for individuals who participate in both paired vagus nerve stimulation and functional training alone, as well as those who participate in paired vagus nerve stimulation therapy plus gamification, there are significant improvements in upper extremity motor function, especially for individuals with chronic stroke. And so this data is incredibly exciting as it proposes a new mechanism for high-intensity, high-repetition-based therapy to facilitate motor recovery for individuals with chronic stroke.

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