Stroke happens when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked or a blood vessel bursts, killing brain cells. About 800,000 strokes occur in the US each year. Treatment focuses on dissolving clots quickly, preventing future strokes with blood thinners and blood pressure control, and rehabilitation to regain lost function.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing longer treatment windows for clot-busting drugs, devices that pull clots from brain arteries, stem cells to repair damaged tissue, and drugs that protect brain cells during and after stroke. Researchers are also studying brain stimulation to speed recovery and new approaches to prevent the second stroke that follows about one in four first strokes.
Neuroprotection
Drugs that shield brain cells from damage during a stroke could extend the narrow treatment window and reduce disability. Several candidates are in trials, including drugs that target inflammation and oxidative stress.
Stroke recovery
Trials are combining rehabilitation with brain stimulation, stem cells, or drugs that make the brain more plastic. The goal is to help people regain movement, speech, and other functions months or years after stroke.
Extended treatment windows
New imaging can identify which stroke patients might still benefit from clot removal 16 or even 24 hours after symptoms start. Trials are testing whether treatment can safely reach more people.
What to know before you search
Eligibility typically depends on stroke type (blocked vessel or bleed), time since stroke, severity of symptoms, and other medical conditions that affect treatment safety.
What types of trials are currently open
- Acute treatment trials — Testing clot-busting drugs, clot-removal devices, and brain-protecting drugs given in the first hours after stroke. These trials often happen in emergency departments.
- Prevention trials — Testing blood thinners, blood pressure drugs, and other treatments to prevent first or repeat strokes in people at high risk.
- Recovery trials — Testing rehabilitation approaches, brain stimulation, stem cells, and drugs to improve movement, speech, thinking, and other functions after stroke.
- Device trials — Testing mechanical devices that remove clots from brain arteries or close holes in the heart that can cause stroke.
- Observational studies — Following stroke survivors to understand how they recover, what predicts outcomes, and how treatments work in real-world settings.
Recently added Stroke trials
Take a new stroke treatment alongside standard care for 12 weeks
This is a randomized, controlled, open-label study of MLC901 (NeuroAiD™ II) in patients with mild to moderate ischemic stroke. Eligible participants will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive MLC901 in combination with standard treatment or standard treatment alone for 12 weeks.
Cognitive Rehabilitation Using Neurofeedback With Brain-computer Interface
The goal of this clinical trial is to determine whether a Brain-Computer Interface Neurofeedback Training (BCI-NFT) programme can improve cognitive outcomes, and whether electroencephalography (EEG)-based measures can serve as objective markers of cognitive impairment, in children and adolescents aged 7 to 21 years with acquired brain injury (ABI), including traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke, encephalitis, brain tumour, or epilepsy. A group of children and adolescents aged 7 to 21 years without any history of brain injury or epilepsy will also be enrolled to provide normative EEG data for comparison. The main questions the study aims to answer are: 1. Can EEG-derived measures of sustained attention, relaxation, and selective attention detect and quantify cognitive impairment in children and adolescents following ABI? 2. Does a structured BCI-NFT programme improve cognitive and behavioural outcomes, including attention, memory, and executive function, compared with standard care alone? Researchers will compare an Intervention Group, who will receive BCI-NFT in addition to standard cognitive rehabilitation, with a Waitlist-Control Group, who will initially receive standard care alone before subsequently crossing over to receive BCI-NFT. This design will allow researchers to determine whether BCI-NFT leads to greater improvements in cognitive and behavioural outcomes compared with standard care alone. Participants in the main ABI cohort will: * Complete behavioural assessments using the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Third Edition (BASC-3), including parent and/or teacher reports. * Complete 12 BCI-NFT sessions over a 10-week period. Each session will last approximately 60 minutes. During each session, participants will wear a wireless EEG headset and interact with neurofeedback computer games designed to respond to their sustained attention, selective attention, and response time. * Repeat the BASC-3 behavioural assessments at the end of the study period. * Have undergone a recent neuropsychological assessment within the preceding 2 years and ongoing review by a neuropsychologist. Participants in the normative EEG cohort, comprising children and adolescents without a history of brain injury or epilepsy, will attend a single study session. During this session, EEG activity will be recorded both at rest and while participants interact with a three-dimensional (3D) computer game. These recordings will provide normative EEG data against which findings from participants with ABI can be compared.
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