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Updated: Jun 28, 2025

Electroencephalography Network Indices as Biomarkers of Upper Limb Impairment in Chronic Stroke
Published on: July 14, 2023
Differentiating ischemic stroke patients from healthy subjects using a large-scale, retrospective EEG database and
William Peterson1, Nithya Ramakrishnan2, Krag Browder3
1University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States.
Objectives:
We set out to develop a machine learning model capable of distinguishing patients presenting with ischemic stroke from a healthy cohort of subjects. The model relies on a 3-min resting electroencephalogram (EEG) recording from which features can be computed.
Materials And Methods:
Using a large-scale, retrospective database of EEG recordings and matching clinical reports, we were able to construct a dataset of 1385 healthy subjects and 374 stroke patients. With subjects often producing more than one recording per session, the final dataset consisted of 2401 EEG recordings (63% healthy, 37% stroke).
Results:
Using a rich set of features encompassing both the spectral and temporal domains, our model yielded an AUC of 0.95, with a sensitivity and specificity of 93% and 86%, respectively. Allowing for multiple recordings per subject in the training set boosted sensitivity by 7%, attributable to a more balanced dataset.
Conclusions:
Our work demonstrates strong potential for the use of EEG in conjunction with machine learning methods to distinguish stroke patients from healthy subjects. Our approach provides a solution that is not only timely (3-minutes recording time) but also highly precise and accurate (AUC: 0.95).

