Abstract
This is a report of the resuls of rehabilitation treatment at our hospital for lacunar-stroke patients. The subjects of this study are 51 lacunar-stroke patients who, between January 2004 and May 2005, were in our rehabilitation unit for a complete course of therapy. All results were confirmed retrospectively and recorded electronically. The mean length of stay was 31.9 days. The mean motor FIM (Functional Independence Measure) was 41.0 at admission and 68.7 upon discharge. The mean gain in motor FIM was 27.7 overall and 1.3 per day. As for ADL (Activity of Daily Living), about 82 % of all subjects had a diminished ability to walk upon admission (above grade 4 on the modified Rankin Scale), 86 % showed better ability (below grade 3 on the modified Rankin Scale), and 84 % of all subjects returned home directly, and only 8 patients transferred to another rehabilitation hospital for convalescents. From this study, we inferred that for many lacunar-stroke patients a hospital stay of about a month is sufficient to enable them to return to their own homes, if acute-stroke rehabilitation is started immediately.
