eTIPS is an early therapy approach in perinatal stroke, supporting parents to encourage their baby's movements from an early age and within the first 6 months of life. The materials on this website were developed and used in a pilot feasibility study. The paper summarising this study is available open access at Feasibility trial of an early therapy in perinatal stroke (eTIPS) | BMC Neurology | Full Text (biomedcentral.com).
Below we list the inclusion and exclusion criteria related to infant eligibility, that we used for the pilot trial. You should discuss these with your healthcare professional before considering whether the materials may be useful for you. Please also see the disclaimer below.
Inclusion criteria for infants:
Term or preterm infants who sustained a predominantly unilateral stroke (arterial ischaemic, haemorrhagic or haemorrhagic periventricular venous infarction) demonstrated on cranial imaging and identified within the first 3 months of life
Exclusion criteria for infants:
a) Additional significant medical diagnoses which would render the therapy inappropriate or outcomes uninterpretable in relation to the therapy, e.g. known progressive or neurodegenerative disorder or severe visual impairment
b) Evidence of significant bilateral intracerebral motor pathology (i.e. both sides of the brain significantly affected)
c) Strokes shown radiologically to affect only occipital, prefrontal or temporal areas of the brain (which would not be expected to produce adverse motor outcomes)
d) Ongoing involvement in another research study where this was likely to interfere with the interpretation of either study.
Why are there two eTIPS websites?
We created one website (this one) for infants at risk of developing left sided weakness and a separate one for infants at risk of developing right sided weakness. This was to make the instructions as easy as possible for families.
Disclaimer:
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