News

A world-first procedure in the field of stroke treatment has just taken place that leverages cutting-edge robotics. In a groundbreaking demonstration of what telemedicine can achieve, doctors have just successfully performed an entire remote thrombectomy using a sophisticated robotic system from a company called Sentante. This achievement fundamentally redefines the ‘golden hour’ for stroke treatment…

The procedure itself was a technological marvel. Specialists situated at a control console in Florida successfully operated on a human cadaver located more than 4,000 miles away in Dundee. The Sentante robotic system, positioned at the ‘bedside’,  perfectly mirrored the surgeon’s nuanced hand movements in real-time, all while a reliable network connection ensured latency was minimal and essentially imperceptible to the surgeon.

The genius of the Sentante system goes beyond simple remote control. It incorporates vital haptic feedback, a sensory experience that allows the operating surgeon in Florida to actually feel the resistance and delicate manipulation of the catheters and blood vessels as if they were physically present in the room in Scotland. This feedback is critical as it provides the precision and safety required for such a delicate operation where the stakes are life or death.

This breakthrough is far more than a technical stunt btw; it is a beacon of hope for improving global stroke outcomes. The reality today is that only a small fraction of stroke patients receive time-sensitive interventions like thrombectomy because they must arrive at a specialist neurovascular center within a very narrow window of time. This leaves countless individuals in rural, remote, or underserved urban areas without access to the best possible care. The Sentante system promises to democratise this expertise.

By enabling a single expert surgeon at a central hub to treat patients scattered across a wide region via robotic systems, this technology could save countless lives and significantly reduce the burden of long-term stroke disability. The team behind the innovation hopes to advance to formal clinical trials with live patients within the next year. While there are still regulatory hurdles to overcome and safety to confirm, this world-first procedure is a revolutionary step forward, proving that with the right technology, expert stroke care can be delivered anywhere in the world, whenever it is needed most.

In the world of stroke recovery and prevention, we live by a singular, urgent truth: time is brain. Every minute lost after a stroke onset results in the irreversible death of millions of neurons. While advancements in treatment have been significant, a critical bottleneck has always been the speed of diagnosis and differentiation between stroke types (ischemic or haemorrhagic), which require entirely different and often opposing, treatments.

Traditional diagnostic tools, the CT and MRI scanners, are bulky, expensive and require a patient to be moved to a specific location within a hospital, a process that inherently introduces delays. This is where a remarkable new piece of technology offers a powerful glimmer of hope: the emu portable brain scanner. These scanners are non-invasive devices that use ultra-high frequency radiofrequency (RF) scanning technology, combined with advanced AI-based algorithms, to assist in point-of-care stroke diagnosis.

Developed by the innovative tech company EMVision, the ‘emu’ (a clever acronym and a nod to the fast Australian bird, short for ‘electromagnetic unit’) is designed to bring the diagnostic power directly to the patient’s bedside. The tech uses safe, ultra-high frequency radio signals, similar to how a mobile phone communicates, to quickly image the brain. There is no ionizing radiation, making it safe for repeated use. The device itself is a lightweight, helmet-like apparatus that can be wheeled into an ambulance, a patient’s room, or an ICU, fundamentally changing the logistics of emergency stroke diagnosis.

The real brilliance of the emu lies in its ability to rapidly perform two crucial tasks: first, detecting the presence of a stroke, and second, classifying its type. In an emergency scenario, this information is vital. A patient with a blockage needs clot-busting medication or mechanical thrombectomy, while a patient with a bleed needs immediate stabilisation and often surgery. Administering the wrong treatment is catastrophic. The emu aims to provide this critical differential diagnosis within minutes, potentially cutting hours off the current standard of care timeline.

The company has started a pivotal trial earlier this year across several sites in the US and Australia to validate the device’s performance against traditional imaging methods and to secure necessary regulatory approvals. While still an investigational device, the potential for its impact is pretty staggering. It promises to democratise stroke diagnostics, making high-level emergency care accessible to patients in rural and regional areas, or those too unstable to be moved to a large imaging suite.

For many stroke survivors, the journey to regain independence is a challenging road marked by the profound difficulties of upper limb impairment. Weakness or paralysis in the arms and hands can strip away the ability to perform everyday tasks we once took for granted, from carrying groceries to holding a toothbrush. Traditional rehabilitation has its limits, but a new era of assistive technology is dawning, offering tangible hope and a path to restored function through a revolutionary device called the VilPower.

Developed by the innovative Norwegian company Vilje Bionics, ARNI Stroke Rehab UK reveals today that a pioneering company has produced the world’s first entire arm exoskeleton (VilPower).

Until now, exoskeletons for those with paretic arms covered only up to the elbow and used sensors on the skin but Vilje Bionic’s prototype uses a novel sensor technology that doesn’t need skin contact.  Unlike other devices that might focus only on the hand or the elbow, the VilPower assists movements for the shoulder, elbow and hand. This full-arm support can enables users to perform a wide range of natural, complex motions crucial for activities of daily living.

The technology behind the VilPower is incredibly intuitive. It leverages a novel sensor system that detects a user’s minute muscle signals and residual movements, effectively interpreting their intention to move their arm. It then amplifies this intention into physical movement, allowing individuals with significant impairments to regain control. This ‘thought-activated’ operation is key to not just assisting movement but also encouraging neuroplasticity.

By engaging the user’s intent and facilitating the completion of a movement, the device provides the intensive, repetitive practice needed to reinforce new neural pathways and achieve genuine long-term recovery gains. Users in trials have reported significant improvements in their ability to perform tasks they thought were lost to them, such as opening doors or cutting vegetables.

So, where does the VilPower stand in terms of availability? The device has been in active development and has undergone trials with over 40 patients so far. These trials have been crucial in refining the device, and feedback from users has been overwhelmingly positive. The company recently secured significant funding to facilitate the final steps before a full-scale commercial launch.

In terms of a release date, the developers are preparing for a commercial launch within the next four to six months, with an initial focus on the Norwegian market. The development of the associated app and compliance with medical device regulations (MDR) have been significant parts of the process to ensure the product meets all necessary standards. While a specific date for international availability beyond Norway is not yet public knowledge, the rapid progress indicates that the device may become available in other regions in the near future. The potential for the VilPower to enhance the independence and quality of life for stroke survivors globally is immense, and its impending launch marks a truly exciting moment in rehabilitation technology.

Readers of these news pages who are professionals in stroke or stroke survivors and their loved ones know the mantra ‘time is brain’ better than anyone. Rapid intervention is crucial to minimise damage, but current treatments have a limited time window, so researchers have been working on a ground-breaking new drug treatment for stroke survivors to widen this window that actually induces hypothermia; basically putting the brain in a state of suspended animation or hibernation to protect it from damage.

Therapeutic hypothermia, or controlled cooling of the body, is a powerful neuroprotective strategy that has shown immense promise in preclinical studies for reducing damage after an ischemic stroke. The science is compelling: lowering the brain’s temperature slows down its metabolic rate, reduces inflammation, and prevents a cascade of cellular death. The major challenge, however, has been practical clinical application. Traditional physical cooling methods, such as cooling blankets or intravascular catheters, are often slow, inefficient and can cause adverse side effects like severe shivering, which is counterproductive as it generates heat and stress.

This is where the new pharmacological approach changes the game. Researchers are focusing on creating drugs that can act directly on the brain’s ‘thermostat’ in the hypothalamus to lower the core body temperature in a controlled and rapid manner, critically without triggering the body’s natural shivering response.

One of the most promising compounds studied in this field is known as ABS-201 (also referred to as HPI-201), a novel neurotensin receptor 1 (NTR1) agonist. This drug is designed to cross the blood-brain barrier and target specific receptors, effectively ‘resetting’ the body’s temperature set point. Preclinical studies have shown that a single dose of ABS-201 can reduce body and brain temperature by 2–5°C within minutes, a level of mild to moderate hypothermia that offers significant neuroprotection. The potential impact is huge: animal studies have demonstrated up to a 30-40% reduction in infarct volume (the area of dead tissue) and improved long-term functional recovery when the treatment is administered even hours after stroke onset.

This pioneering research has been published in esteemed academic journals such as Stroke and PLOS Medicine. Key researchers in the field, including teams from institutions like the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and others in Australia and Europe, have been instrumental in these findings. Their work suggests that a pharmacological approach could be a powerful stand-alone treatment or a synergistic aid to current physical cooling methods, making hypothermia therapy much more feasible for a wider range of patients in due course.

One of the ongoing debates in the medical community has centred around the best type of anaesthesia to use during mechanical thrombectomy, the gold-standard procedure for removing large blood clots from brain vessels. A new, robust multicentre trial led by researchers at UTHealth Houston has provided compelling evidence that finally offers some clarity and direction.

The trial, involving a significant cohort of 260 patients, directly compared two approaches: general anaesthesia and moderate sedation. Prior studies on this topic have been a mixed bag, with some even suggesting that moderate sedation might be superior, while others found no difference. The lack of consensus meant variations in practice across hospitals, but this new trial provides a clearer path forward.

The results were remarkable and strongly in favour of general anaesthesia. The study found that patients who were placed in a fully induced state of general anaesthesia during their mechanical thrombectomy procedure had better neurological function outcomes at the three-month mark compared to those who received only moderate sedation. This improvement in function is a crucial measure of recovery and quality of life for survivors.

The reasons for this improved outcome are likely multi-faceted. One theory is that general anaesthesia provides a more stable and controlled environment for the surgeon. It can help prevent patient movement, ensure stable blood pressure, and potentially allow the surgical team to perform the delicate clot retrieval more quickly and efficiently. In a procedure where speed is paramount, any factor that reduces procedural time can directly translate into saved brain tissue and improved patient outcomes.

This study is a significant step towards optimising stroke treatment protocols. The findings suggest that general anaesthesia should be a serious consideration for future standard practice during these life-saving procedures. For the stroke survivor community and their families, this research offers hope that ongoing advancements in medical science are continually refining the care we receive, helping to ensure the best possible chances for a strong recovery and life beyond stroke. It underscores the importance of rigorous research in driving forward better patient outcomes.

People who have survived a stroke face a significantly elevated risk of recurrence, which often leads to cumulative neurological damage and a progressive decline in cognitive function. This cognitive impairment can be as debilitating as the physical symptoms, severely impacting quality of life.

In a proactive effort to address this critical medical challenge, Royal United Hospitals Bath (RUH Bath) is currently recruiting participants for a vital clinical trial: the LACunar Intervention Trial-3 (LACI-3). There will be at least 60 more hospitals in the UK where this trial will be carried out and the recruitment aim is 1,300 patients.

This study is exploring whether two existing medications – isosorbide mononitrate and cilosta*zol – could help prevent further strokes and improve cognitive function in patients who’ve experienced a lacunar ischaemic stroke. This type of stroke affects around 35,000 people each year in the UK, leading to problems with cognitive function and can sometimes lead to dementia.

Repurposing existing drugs for new indications can significantly accelerate the path to patient benefit, as their safety profiles are already well-understood. This trial aims to rigorously test whether these medications can provide the crucial added layer of protection needed by high-risk patients. While current guidelines focus on blood pressure control and lifestyle modifications, there remains an unmet need for pharmacological interventions that specifically target the mechanisms leading to both stroke recurrence and vascular cognitive impairment.

RUH Bath is looking for volunteers aged 30+ who’ve had a lacunar stroke and participation lasts around 18 months, with most follow-ups done by phone. Survivors who meet the study’s criteria are encouraged to contact the research team for further details on how to get involved in this potentially transformative research. To find out more, contact the stroke research team on 01225 824120 : laci-3@ed.ac.uk or ruh-tr.strokeresearch@nhs.net

This study is led by the University of Edinburgh and University of Nottingham, and is funded by NIHR. Principal investigator: Professor Joanna Wardlaw: joanna.wardlaw@ed.ac.uk

There’s incredibly exciting news from the medical world that offers a massive ray of hope for stroke survivors. During the recent 17th World Stroke Congress in Barcelona, Lumosa Therapeutics announced highly promising, positive results from their Phase 2b clinical trials for a new drug called LT3001. This groundbreaking medication is showing immense potential to change the game entirely by extending the crucial therapeutic window for ischemic stroke from the current 4.5 hours to a remarkable 24 hours.

The race against the clock after a stroke often means that far too many stroke patients arrive at the hospital too late for effective treatment; but the data for LT3001 suggests a safer alternative is on the way. Trials have shown that the drug maintained a favourable safety profile with no significant increased risk of bleeding, a major concern with existing treatments like tPA. And, more importantly, patients treated with LT3001 within this hugely extended window showed clear signals of improved functional outcomes, particularly for those with moderate-to-disabling strokes.

What happens next? Well, these positive Phase 2b results are the springboard for the next big leap; global Phase 3 trials. While this is a pivotal step, it means LT3001 is still a few years away from becoming a routine treatment. The process involves conducting large-scale Phase 3 trials, submitting data to regulatory bodies like the MHRA in the UK and awaiting final approval.

A realistic and optimistic estimate for LT3001’s widespread availability in routine UK clinical practice might be somewhere in the early 2030s… around 5 to 8 years from now… assuming all future trials are successful and regulatory hurdles are cleared efficiently.

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies hold incredible potential, not just for entertainment, but also for innovative rehabilitation methods. We’ve seen promising results where VR aids motor recovery by providing engaging, motivating environments for practice.

However, a new study from the University of Bath has issued a crucial warning: the next generation of hand gesture controls being developed for these systems risks excluding millions of people, including many in our stroke survivor community. This is a critical issue that stroke professionals and survivors need to be aware of.

The research highlights that the freehand controls becoming standard in new systems; gestures like pinching, swiping and pressing virtual buttons…are often inaccessible, painful or simply too fatiguing for individuals with even mild upper limb impairments. For a stroke survivor, who may deal with reduced manual dexterity, spasticity or weakness, these design choices can be a major barrier to using technology that could otherwise be a powerful tool for recovery and daily life engagement.

A key finding from the study points to the ubiquitous ‘pinch to select’ gesture. This action relies heavily on the index finger, a joint often significantly affected by conditions like stroke. Current VR systems rarely offer alternative, more adaptable gestures, effectively locking out users who cannot perform this specific, rigid movement. Furthermore, the study noted that tech companies are increasingly favouring smaller, faster gestures in pursuit of efficiency… a trend that exacerbates accessibility issues for those with motor control challenges.

For healthcare professionals, this is a call to action. When considering VR for patient use, we must evaluate not just the therapeutic potential but also the physical accessibility of the interface. The current ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to hand gestures is inadequate. The Bath researchers are advocating for accessibility to be a fundamental part of the design process from the very beginning, not just an afterthought or a ‘nice to have’ feature.

Potential solutions suggested by the study include simple but impactful changes: allowing users to fully remap gestures to movements that are comfortable for them, enabling the amplification of small, controlled movements and offering software-based stabilisation for users with tremors. Such adaptive features would ensure that the benefits of this exciting technology are available to all, regardless of their physical capabilities.

The announcement from the Royal Preston Hospital that it will begin offering 24/7 thrombectomy services by February 1st, 2026, is a major milestone for stroke care in Lancashire and South Cumbria.

This initiative addresses a critical issue that has long plagued stroke treatment; the disparity in care between in-hours and out-of-hours presentations. For patients with severe ischemic strokes caused by a large vessel occlusion, a mechanical thrombectomy is a game-changing intervention that can dramatically improve functional outcomes and reduce long-term disability. Its effectiveness, however, is highly time-dependent, making round-the-clock availability not just desirable but essential.

The situation at Royal Preston highlights a systemic challenge. While some UK hospitals have offered 24/7 thrombectomy for years… St George’s in London was an early pioneer, with others like Barts Health and University Hospital of North Midlands (UHNM) following suit… many still operate with limited hours.

A 2022 Stroke Association report indicated that only a minority of thrombectomy centres were offering 24/7 cover, with many still operating on a limited-hours basis. This has led to a persistent postcode lottery of care, where a patient’s chance of a good recovery is tied to their location and the time of day their stroke occurs. Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre also recently transitioned to a 24/7 service in October 2025, further adding to the growing number of centres providing continuous care. However, to achieve full national coverage, the UK needs to overcome significant hurdles, primarily chronic underfunding and a shortage of specialised interventional neuroradiologists.

Given the historical pace of implementation and the current workforce limitations, making a precise prediction about when the entire UK will achieve 24/7 thrombectomy coverage is hard to do; despite ambitions set by national bodies, past targets have been missed. A realistic, though optimistic, forecast suggests that it could be another five to ten years before all eligible patients across the UK have consistent, 24/7 access to thrombectomy.

Full coverage will require a concerted and well-funded national effort to increase the number of trained specialists, improve hospital infrastructure, and ensure efficient patient transfer pathways.Some countries with well-integrated neuroscience centres, such as Germany, Holland, Canada and parts of the US have achieved significantly higher thrombectomy access rates and broader 24/7 coverage than the UK, demonstrating that this goal is achievable with sustained investment and strategic planning.

Foot drop, a common consequence of stroke and other neurological conditions, presents a significant mobility challenge for so many survivors, including me. Traditional management often relies on ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) and/or compensatory walking strategies, which can be restrictive or increase metabolic cost during ambulation. The development of adaptive footwear, such as the Cadense shoe, represents an innovative approach to mitigating the functional deficits associated with foot drop: via hrough its patented Variable Friction Technology, Cadense aims to reduce tripping hazards and facilitate a smoother, more efficient gait pattern for individuals with neuromuscular weakness.

The core of the Cadense technology lies in its unique outsole design. The sole features two elevated nylon pucks on either side of the shoe’s forefoot, creating a low-friction surface that facilitates a gliding motion during the swing phase of the gait cycle. This allows the foot to slide over obstacles and uneven surfaces more easily, addressing the primary cause of tripping in individuals with foot drop. As the foot comes into contact with the ground during the stance phase, pressure on the shoe activates a recessed, high-friction rubber section of the sole, which provides a stable platform for stopping and toe-off, ensuring users maintain control and confidence throughout the walking process.

For stroke survivors, user testimonials and early reports suggest a positive reception. Reviewers frequently praise the shoe’s ability to reduce their fear of tripping and falling, leading to increased confidence and independence. Many users note that the shoe’s design, which includes an easy-on, easy-off Velcro closure disguised as laces, simplifies their daily routines. The aesthetic is also frequently mentioned, with users appreciating that the shoe looks like fashionable, regular trainers rather than overt medical or orthopaedic footwear. For some, the use of the Cadense shoe has even enabled them to decrease their reliance on or forgo an AFO altogether, although it is important to note this varies based on the individual’s specific needs and the severity of their foot drop.

Early research, including an NIH-funded study at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, is investigating the clinical impact of this variable friction technology on gait mechanics and training outcomes.

Cadense adaptive footwear is indeed available for purchase in the UK. The shoes can be bought directly from the Cadense UK website, Cadense.co.uk. The price for a pair of the adaptive trainers is approximately £199.99. Shoppers are often offered free delivery and a 30-day risk-free trial period, allowing users to test the shoes’ effectiveness before committing to the purchase. The availability of different styles and sizes, including wide-fit options, further enhances accessibility for individuals with diverse needs.

While the Cadense shoe offers a promising, non-invasive intervention for foot drop, survivors considering this or any adaptive footwear should consult with a ARNI instructor or other physio to ensure it is appropriate for their specific rehabilitation goals and walking impairments.