P 52 Short-term therapeutic effects of functional electrical stimulation on the somatosensory evoked potentials in the rehabilitation of the patients after the stroke: an interventional study

Abstract

Objective: The aim was to investigate whether the short-term therapeutic effects of functional electrostimulation (FES) have a role in improving pathological latencies and/or amplitudes of somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) caused by a cortical post-stroke lesion in acute patients with a foot drop. Methods: A randomized clinical sequential two-period crossover-design protocol was constructed and the study followed the PICO Consort criteria. 32 patients were divided in a two separate consecutive treatment periods as part of a four-week inpatient neurological rehabilitation. All patients received conventional rehabilitation therapy. Additionally, group A was treated with FES for two weeks and after this period Group A and Group B were switched. Results: The initial results indicated interaction between functional electrostimulation and the primary somatosensory cortical complex because we observed at this stage of the study that the cortical latency P40 of the intervention group remained invariable. Nevertheless, the control group indicated increase in P40 latency delay. Further data evaluation is necessary to answer the main objective of the study.