Positive results yielding from a 42-week Functional Ambulation: Standard Treatment vs. Electrical Stimulation Therapy (FASTEST) trial of the Bioness L300 Foot Drop System indicate that individuals with drop foot post-stroke had clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvement in gait speed when using the Bioness L300.

A news release issued by Bioness reports that the study “Response and Prediction of Improvement in Gait Speed from Functional Electrical Stimulation in Post-Stroke Drop Foot” appears in the July issue of PM&R.

 Michael W. O’Dell, MD, lead author, chief of clinical rehabilitation services, New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, notes “…This study demonstrates that subjects with chronic stroke can achieve a meaningful improvement in the speed of their ambulation with functional electrical stimulation therapy. Moreover, at 42 weeks the subjects in this study walked faster with and without the device, indicating a therapeutic effect that can be sustained over time.”

The release states that subjects using the L300 had their gait speed progressively improve during a period of 42 weeks, with ?50% of the subjects achieving a clinically meaningful 42-week total effect and 50% achieving their maximum gait speed by 12 weeks. It also states that as whole, the group experienced an immediate increase of walking speed of 19%, which reportedly continued to improve to 33.3% and 45.2% at 30 and 42 weeks, respectively.

 Keith McBride, DPT, vice president of marketing and product development, adds that the long-term results of the FASTEST trial “reveal that the Bioness L300 provides clinically significant and sustaining benefit in this underserved cohort of persons with drop foot. The magnitude of the outcomes under the rigorous controls and methods of the trial will provide additional essential data to third party payers to consider for coverage of the functional electrical stimulation systems like the L300 to include persons with foot drop following stroke.”

Source: Bioness