Researchers in California are showing some promising results with a new approach to treating stroke. The scientists are focusing on getting undamaged parts of the brain to take over functions impaired by the stroke.
In a stroke, a loss of blood supply — from a clot, for example — can starve brain tissue of oxygen, and brain cells die.
Each part of the brain is hard-wired for certain functions. One part interprets vision, for example; another moves the left hand. But if undamaged regions can take over the role of the brain cells killed off in the stroke, then patients might regain lost functions.
Thomas Carmichael of the University of California Los Angeles explains that the brain can do that itself, in a limited way.
