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New Study Reshapes Understanding of How the Brain Recovers from Injury

Monday, May 20, 2019

Each year, approximately 265,000 Americans have a stroke that causes visual impairment. New research, which appears in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, sheds light on how the damage in the brain caused by a stroke can lead to permanent vision impairment. The findings could provide researchers with a blueprint to better identify which areas of vision are recoverable, facilitating the development of more effective interventions to encourage vision recovery.

“The integration of a number of cortical regions of the brain is necessary in order for visual information to be translated into a coherent visual representation of the world,” said Bogachan Sahin, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Department of Neurology and co-author of the study. “And while the stroke may have disrupted the transmission of information from the visual center of the brain to higher order areas, these findings suggest that when the primary visual processing center of the brain remains intact and active, clinical approaches that harness the brain’s plasticity could lead to vision recovery.”

The research has formed the basis of a new clinical trial for stroke patients with vision loss that is now under way at URMC and lead by Sahin. The study involves a class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, the most common of which is the antidepressant Prozac, which are known to enhance neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to rewire itself and form new connections to restore function after damage. The hypothesis is that the drug will help restore vision by fostering the development of new connections between areas of the brain necessary for interpreting signals from the healthy eye cells. 

Regional Health System Growth and Implications for Stroke Care

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

New research shows that stroke patients are increasingly being transferred out of smaller community and rural hospitals and sent to larger medical centers for their care and rehabilitation. While this is a positive sign for patients who need more advanced treatments, the trend has drawbacks in terms of cost and points to the need to improve the coordination of care between hospitals.

“The underlying goal of stroke care is to get the right person to the right hospital at the right time,” said University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) neurologist Benjamin George, M.D., M.P.H., a co-author of the study which appears this month in the journal Neurology. “The findings of this study show that in recent years community-based hospitals are erring on the side of caution and transferring more patients from their emergency departments to larger hospitals.  Given the high cost and burden associated with these transfers, striking a balance between cost and need is essential.”

A national movement toward the formation of large regional health systems has occurred since the passage of the Affordable Care Act and its emphasis on population-based health management. This has created opportunities and benefits for both small and large hospitals and their patients, such as increased access to specialized care, continuity of care across health systems, and the ability to provide treat patients closer to home.