Sound waves aimed at the brain could boost stroke recovery

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients with stroke (including hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke) diagnosed by a board-certificated physician. * Occurrence of stroke within three months. * Upper limb muscle strength ≤ 4 points according to the Medical Research Council Manual Muscle Testing scale. * No previous history of stroke, epilepsy, dementia, Parkinson's disease, or other neurodegenerative diseases. * Patients could maintain sitting posture for more than 15 minutes on a chair. * 18 years of age or older. Exclusion Criteria: * History of recurrent stroke, traumatic brain injuries, brain tumors, spinal cord injury, Parkinson's disease or other musculoskeletal system diseases that may affect evaluation and treatment. * Contraindications to focused ultrasound, including pregnancy, cardiac pacemaker or implantable medical device, abnormal connective tissue diseases, coagulopathy (PLT\<100,000/μL, PT\>14 seconds, APTT\>36 seconds, INR\>1.3), implants near or in the brain, or those deemed Unsuitable for this treatment by the physician. * Unable to cooperate with treatment or functional assessment due to impaired consciousness or aphasia; inability to informed consent. * Patient with cranial bone factor causing the inability of tFUS penetration. * Patient under anticoagulants with coagulopathy (PLT\<100,000/μL, PT\>14 seconds, APTT\>36 seconds, INR\>1.3) * Patients who are not suitable for undergoing CT imaging examination; * Major physical illnesses and neurological disorders (such as epilepsy, brain surgery, etc.) * Patients with metallic implants in their bodies; * Patients taking tricyclic antidepressants, analgesics, or using antiepileptic drugs * Individuals experiencing sleep disorders during tFUS treatment; * Individuals with history of alcoholism * Patients with severe or uncontrollable intracranial pressure; * Patients requiring anticoagulants; * Any intracranial space-occupying lesions; * Significant calcification of intracranial vessels based on pre-treatment CT imaging; * Subjects with lesions/wounds on the scalp in the target region.