Targeting stroke treatment to the individual

Abstract

Stroke motor rehabilitation is typically generic rather than being tailored to the individual and yet individuals may require different rehabilitation strategies according to the brain regions and networks damaged by the stroke and the impact of the lesion on remote locations and networks. Training may be targeted at facilitating neuroplasticity of these networks and towards utilizing the residual architecture that may be accessed in therapy. Careful analysis of the impact of the lesion on brain networks as well as knowledge of viable brain networks, via in vivo neuroimaging technologies has potential to guide rehabilitation clinicians in individualized stroke rehabilitation. More studies are needed, which combine knowledge of the integrity of brain regions and networks with measures of motor deficit and/or effectiveness of learning-based interventions to inform the direction for individualized therapy.