{"doi":"10.1101/2025.08.01.25332445","title":"SPINAL CORD STIMULATION IMPROVES MOTOR FUNCTION AND SPASTICITY IN CHRONIC POST-STROKE UPPER LIMB HEMIPARESIS","abstract":"ABSTRACT Here, we report the final outcomes of a pilot clinical trial testing preliminary efficacy and safety of cervical epidural spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for chronic post-stroke upper-limb hemiparesis ( NCT04512690 ). We implanted seven participants with profound motor deficits (Fugl-Meyer Assessment [FMA] scores 15–35) using two leads implanted unilaterally in the cervical spinal cord for 4 weeks. Under SCS ON, motor function immediately improved regardless of impairment severity (average +32% strength and +5.6 FMA-points). Notably, 3/7 participants with residual corticospinal connectivity to finger muscles regained hand/finger function with SCS. Despite performing only 8.6hrs of motor activity (5.5hrs with SCS ON), participants improved by average +6.6 FMA-points at the end of the study compared to baseline and spasticity decreased in all participants. While all benefited, our preliminary analysis indicates that spared sensory function may be a determinant of responsiveness to SCS. No serious adverse events occurred.","journal":"medRxiv","year":2025,"id":555700,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9622,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":890808,"name":"Shovan Bhatia","orcid":"0000-0001-8090-7208","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1016253,"name":"Erynn Sorensen","orcid":"0000-0003-0988-4132","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1016252,"name":"Nikhil Verma","orcid":"0009-0004-5533-6887","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1016254,"name":"Erick Carranza","orcid":"0000-0002-8502-3222","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1016255,"name":"Scott Ensel","orcid":"0000-0003-0264-3686","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1161516,"name":"Luigi Borda","orcid":"0009-0003-4670-8530","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1017247,"name":"Amy Boos","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":347736,"name":"Jeff Goldsmith","orcid":"0000-0002-6150-8997","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":719067,"name":"Lee E. Fisher","orcid":"0000-0002-9072-3119","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":385209,"name":"Daryl P. Fields","orcid":"0000-0002-4594-2996","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1016251,"name":"Marc Powell","orcid":"0000-0002-4880-2745","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1454961,"name":"Shane Gordon","orcid":null,"position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1016257,"name":"Jeffrey Balzer","orcid":"0000-0002-3546-4548","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":399960,"name":"Robert M. Friedlander","orcid":"0000-0003-4423-9219","position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":285895,"name":"George F. Wittenberg","orcid":"0000-0001-5603-1197","position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1016258,"name":"Peter C. Gerszten","orcid":"0000-0002-1483-6090","position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":555819,"name":"John W. Krakauer","orcid":"0000-0002-4316-1846","position":17,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":877578,"name":"Elvira Pirondini","orcid":"0000-0002-8078-3951","position":18,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":764255,"name":"Douglas J. Weber","orcid":"0000-0002-9782-3497","position":19,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":877577,"name":"Marco Capogrosso","orcid":"0000-0002-0975-316X","position":20,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1454513,"name":"Roberto M. de Freitas","orcid":"0000-0002-4169-5692","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":67,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:55:03.976486Z","pmid":"40799959","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}