Study on the improvement of electroencephalogram signal characteristics in stroke patients by edaravone dexborneol

TL;DR

This study shows that edaravone dexborneol improves brain wave patterns and neurological recovery in stroke patients.

Contribution

The study demonstrates novel EEG signal improvements and their correlation with neurological recovery in stroke patients treated with edaravone dexborneol.

Findings

Edaravone dexborneol reduced delta band power and increased alpha/beta band power in stroke patients.

EEG signal complexity and orderliness improved significantly in the treatment group.

Improvements in NIHSS scores correlated with changes in EEG characteristics.

Abstract

To investigate the effects of edaravone dexborneol injection on the cortical electroencephalogram (EEG) signal characteristics in patients with acute ischemic stroke (cerebral infarction) and evaluate its mechanism in promoting neurological recovery from a neurophysiological perspective.

A total of 80 patients with acute anterior circulation cerebral infarction, treated at the Department of Neurology, Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, were randomly divided into the control group (routine treatment) and the experimental group (routine treatment + edaravone dexborneol). EEG data were collected at rest for both groups at baseline (T0) and 7 days after treatment (T1). The collected EEG signals were pre-processed, and the relative power spectral densities in the delta, theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands of the affected hemisphere were calculated and compared between the two groups. Additionally, signal complexity (Lempel–Ziv complexity, LZC) and approximate entropy (ApEn) were assessed. Neurological deficits were evaluated using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), and the correlation between EEG characteristics and NIHSS scores was analyzed.

After treatment, compared to the control group, the experimental group showed a significant decrease in the relative power in the delta frequency band and a significant increase in the relative power in the alpha and beta frequency bands in the affected hemisphere (p < 0.05). The LZC and ApEn values of the EEG signals in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in both the baseline and the control group post-treatment (p < 0.05). The NIHSS score improvement in the experimental group was significantly greater than that in the control group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the alpha/beta power ratio, LZC, and ApEn values were significantly positively correlated with the improvement in NIHSS scores.

Treatment with edaravone dexborneol can effectively improve abnormal EEG patterns in patients with cerebral infarction, characterized by reduced slow-wave activity and increased fast-wave activity and EEG complexity/orderliness. These beneficial changes in EEG characteristics are synchronized with clinical neurological recovery, suggesting that the drug may promote the reshaping and functional reorganization of neural networks by reducing oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, improving cerebral microcirculation, and enhancing neuronal metabolism.

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