%0 Journal Article
%T Stroke Recovery: Surprising Influences and Residual Consequences
%A Argye E. Hillis
%A Donna C. Tippett
%J Advances in Medicine
%D 2014
%R 10.1155/2014/378263
%X There is startling individual variability in the degree to which people recover from stroke and the duration of time over which recovery of some symptoms occurs. There are a variety of mechanisms of recovery from stroke which take place at distinct time points after stroke and are influenced by different variables. We review recent studies from our laboratory that unveil some surprising findings, such as the role of education in chronic recovery. We also report data showing that the consequences that most plague survivors of stroke and their caregivers are loss of high level cortical functions, such as empathy or written language. These results have implications for rehabilitation and management of stroke. 1. Introduction Stroke is among the leading causes of serious, long-term disability worldwide; 15 million people suffer a stroke each year. Almost six million people die of stroke annually, and another five million people have permanent disability due to stroke (http://www.world-heart-federation.org/cardiovascular-health/stroke). Yet, physicians are notoriously weak in predicting who will recover from stroke, how much they will recover, and when they will recover. It is widely recognized that there is a great deal of individual variability in stroke recovery. Even two individuals with very similar appearing ischemic strokes may show very different outcomes one year later. In this paper, we review recent studies from our research group, the Stroke Cognitive Outcomes and Recovery (SCORE) Lab, revealing new insights into sequelae of stroke that are most important to survivors and caregivers and the variables that influence cognitive recovery after stroke. These data have implications for both acute management of stroke and the need to explore new avenues of rehabilitation. 1.1. Why Focus on Cognitive Recovery? The human brain is responsible for all of the functions that define who we are and how we relate to one another¡ªour talents, our intellect, our creativity, our ability to participate in sports, our ability to communicate, and our ability to understand and share in the emotions of others. Stroke can interfere with any or all of these functions. Most of the brain, in fact, supports cognitive and integrative processes underlying complex systems, such as attention, working memory, cognitive control, and language that are critical for these activities. Yet, stroke outcomes research traditionally has focused on recovery of very basic activities of daily living, such as feeding oneself and walking. Consider the most commonly used outcome measures for
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/amed/2014/378263/