Pancreatic cancer
Treatment studies at every stage, help with symptoms, and research into finding the disease sooner.
Read about Pancreatic cancerStudy area
Stroke recovery
Recovery after a stroke can keep going long after the first weeks, and research is looking for ways to help it go further.
About Stroke recovery
A stroke happens when blood stops reaching part of the brain, from a blocked vessel or a bleed. What it leaves behind depends on where it happened: weakness down one side, trouble with speech or understanding, changes in vision, memory or mood. Much of the recovery comes from rehabilitation and from the brain learning new routes.
Studies in this area test therapies for the arm and hand, walking and balance, and speech and language. Some add a device, such as brain or nerve stimulation, to therapy. Others test medicines that may help the brain recover, or look at when each kind of therapy is most useful.
Research in this area
Kinds of study you will come across
Most studies in this area fall into one of these groups. A listing usually says which one in its first lines.
01
Arm and hand
Intensive or robot-assisted therapy to rebuild reach, grip and fine movement.
02
Walking and balance
Training programs, braces and devices that help with steadier walking.
03
Speech and language
Therapy for aphasia, the trouble finding, saying or understanding words.
04
Stimulation and medicines
Devices or drugs given alongside therapy to see whether recovery goes further.
Be ready
Before your first call
What studies in this area often involve, and what a study team is likely to ask you for.
What visits tend to involve
- Tests of movement, grip and walking at the start and at set points
- Therapy sessions, sometimes several a week for a few weeks
- An MRI scan for some studies
- Speech and memory tasks, done with a therapist
- Questions about daily life, mood and independence
Have these to hand
- The date of your stroke and the side or skills it affected
- Whether it was caused by a clot or a bleed, if you know
- The therapy you have had since, and whether it is still going
- Your medicines, especially blood thinners
Your questions
Questions to ask the study team
Write them down before you call. A good team expects them, and the answers help you decide.
- Is the study for people soon after a stroke, or for people years on?
- How many therapy sessions are there, and how long is each one?
- Can I keep my usual therapy while I take part?
- Is transport offered if I no longer drive?
Study areas
Other areas we explain
Pulmonary fibrosis
Scarring of the lung tissue, the cough and breathlessness it brings, and the medicines that try to slow it.
Read about Pulmonary fibrosis
ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: medicines that aim to slow it, gene-targeted research, and help with breathing and speech.
Read about ALSUpdates on stroke recovery
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