For the 7 million American survivors of stroke, increasing the effectiveness of physical rehabilitation for mobility and motor skills could provide a transformative boost in quality of life. Researchers from The University of Texas at Dallas' Texas Biomedical Device Center (TxBDC) conceived a therapy to rewire circuits in the brain involving vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) more than a decade ago, and scientists have since been refining the technique to treat a variety of disorders, including stroke. On Aug. 27, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the rehabilitation system for chronic ischemic stroke survivors — the first such treatment of its kind. Read more

In August 2021, the MicroTransponder Vivistim Paired Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) System was approved by the FDA for the treatment of moderate to severe upper extremity motor deficits associated with chronic ischemic stroke. Seth Hays, PhD, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, discusses the clinical trial data that led to the approval of the Vivistim System, a first of its kind, drug-free rehabilitation device. Read more