New program introduced for stroke patients in central Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A new program at UVA Health is helping ischemic stroke survivors improve the use of their arms.

It’s called the Paired-Vagus Nerve Stimulation program and it is the first FDA-approved device to help in stroke recovery.

The new initiative helps patients to improve motor control through gentle electric stimulation.

“This is the population that has not gone all the way better. They’ve made some recovery and they sort of leveled off and that’s the group that we that we know that this device has been ideally studied in and approved for and that we want to try to get into to give them that added chance of ongoing recovery, motor recovery,” said stroke expert, Dr. Andrew Southerland.

An ischemic stroke is the most common kind of stroke and makes up about 80% to 85% of strokes.

UVA Health collaborated with Ivy Rehab Physical Therapy and MicroTransponder, to launch the Paired-Vagus Nerve Stimulation program.

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