Non-invasive BCIs in Brain Stroke of Applications and Future Prospects

Abstract

Stroke is a main reason for long-term disability globally, motor and cognitive impairments appear after stroke, which can reduce quality of life for patients and makes the rehabilitation process become more complex, new auxiliary tools are needed. Non-invasive brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are promising tools to help stroke rehabilitation. BCI combined with functional electrical stimulation (BCI-FES) is used in many studies. Transcranial electrical stimulation-assisted BCI (BCI-TES) is another method. Virtual reality-integrated BCI (BCI-VR) shows good potential. This paper analysis the working mechanisms, clinical efficacy and limitations of these methods, and then multidimensional comparison is conducted which covers applicable populations, user tolerance, equipment performance and also the clinical evidence from existing studies to give full picture of current status. The results show that each paradigm has its own advantages for different patient groups. BCI-FES can help muscle reanimation for severe paresis. BCI-TES is expected to enhance cortical excitability in the early subacute stage. BCI-VR provides immersive task training, which can improve rehabilitation outcomes for mild impairments. It is stratified and phase-adaptive, and can guide the combination of individualized modalities and sequential intervention across stroke recovery stages. Future research directions including intelligent adaptive optimization, hybrid system integration, remote rehabilitation, unified evaluation criteria and large-scale clinical trials, and these efforts can help the clinical translation of BCI rehabilitation technologies so that more patients can benefit from these new methods in hospitals and home settings.