Brain Stimulation May Aid Stroke Recovery

Magnetic stimulation of the left side of the brain may help people recover from one after-effect of stroke, a small study suggests. The research focused on 20 people who had a stroke on the right side of the brain. This caused a condition called hemispatial neglect. They were unable to notice or react to things that happen on the left side of the body. People were randomly assigned to receive 10 sessions of either real or fake stimulation. An electromagnetic coil over the scalp was used to send quick electrical pulses to the undamaged left side of the brain. The purpose was to calm overactive circuits that were throwing the brain off balance. People with the sham treatment received very weak pulses. In people who got the real treatment, overactive circuits returned to normal. Tests showed a 16% improvement in how well people processed information on the left side.