New Breakthrough in Post-Stroke Rehabilitation: pBFS Precision Targeting Enables 78-Year-Old Grandmother to Walk Independently Again

One night six months ago, 78-year-old Grandma Chen (pseudonym) suddenly collapsed due to dizziness and was diagnosed with a cerebral infarction (ischemic stroke). Following the onset, a series of aftereffects ensued, completely disrupting her normal life and plunging her entire family into distress.
These aftereffects caused Grandma Chen multiple difficulties: she could not lift her right arm or grasp objects with her right hand, her gait was unsteady, and she relied entirely on family members for support when moving about; even basic self-care tasks, such as dressing, became difficult. Furthermore, her speech became slurred, creating significant barriers to communication with her family and drastically reducing her quality of life.
Rehabilitation for stroke aftereffects has long been a challenge for many patients and their families. Many hold misconceptions, believing that aftereffects manifest solely as hemiplegia (paralysis on one side of the body). In reality, the aftereffects are diverse; beyond hemiplegia, patients may experience limb numbness, swallowing difficulties, depression, and other issues. Since the specific areas of brain damage, symptoms, and severity vary from patient to patient, there is no “one-size-fits-all” rehabilitation plan—a fact that highlights the limitations of traditional rehabilitation therapies.
Traditional rehabilitation methods for stroke aftereffects have significant shortcomings.
Clinically, traditional rehabilitation for stroke aftereffects generally falls into two categories, yet both have limitations and struggle to meet the needs of patients with severe impairment.
The first is conventional rehabilitation training. While this approach can effectively alleviate cerebral edema and improve blood supply to the brain during the acute phase, it cannot fundamentally promote the regeneration of damaged nerves. Consequently, for patients with severe nerve damage, the rehabilitation outcomes are often limited, making it difficult to restore core functions such as limb mobility and speech.
The second is pharmacological treatment. Medications can alleviate certain symptoms during the early stages of the stroke but cannot repair damaged brain nerves or restore bodily functions. Moreover, long-term medication use carries the risk of side effects, rendering it unsuitable as a standalone method for long-term rehabilitation or the definitive cure of aftereffects. From a medical perspective, the root cause of sequelae such as hemiplegia and aphasia following a cerebral infarction (stroke) is structural damage and functional dysfunction within the brain’s motor networks. Once the neural pathways connecting the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord are damaged, various physiological functions—including limb control, balance, fine motor skills, and speech—become impaired.
Therefore, the core challenge and key breakthrough in stroke rehabilitation lie in the precise localization of damaged brain regions and the application of targeted interventions.
A Breakthrough in Precision Medicine: pBFS Technology Maps Personalized “Brain Function”
In recent years, non-invasive brain stimulation techniques—such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial electrical stimulation (tES)—have emerged as effective new methods for stroke rehabilitation by modulating neuronal excitability and promoting the self-repair of damaged nerves.
The key to successful rehabilitation lies in accurately identifying intervention targets. Leveraging pBFS (personalized Brain Function Segmentation) technology, clinicians can create a unique “motor cortex target map” for each patient.
This technology revolutionizes the traditional rehabilitation model—which often relied on trial-and-error based on experience—by enabling millimeter-level precision control. It acts like a precise navigation system for damaged and disordered neural pathways, allowing neuromodulation therapy to target the lesion directly, thereby significantly enhancing rehabilitation efficiency and outcomes.
A Real-Life Rehabilitation Case: An Elderly Woman Regains Her Ability to Live Independently
Late last year, Grandma Chen and her family—long troubled by the aftereffects of a stroke—sought professional rehabilitation at Shulan (Hangzhou) Hospital. Addressing her specific condition, the hospital team used functional MRI (fMRI) scans to create a personalized “brain function map,” precisely identify intervention targets, and administer targeted neuromodulation repair therapy.
After three months of systematic, precision rehabilitation, Grandma Chen’s physical condition improved remarkably, delighting her family. She experienced a significant recovery in speech function, with noticeably clearer articulation and a revitalized mental state. Meanwhile, her motor function has continued to improve: the range of motion in her right arm has largely returned to normal, allowing for flexible forearm rotation; muscle strength in her lower limbs has increased significantly; and her gait has become increasingly steady. Currently, Grandma Chen can walk independently for short distances without family assistance, gradually regaining her ability to manage daily life.
The aftereffects of cerebral infarction impose a heavy burden on countless patients and their families; Grandma Chen’s recovery offers a beacon of hope to many others facing similar challenges. As precision diagnosis and treatment technologies for brain function continue to evolve, an increasing number of patients with post-stroke sequelae will be able to restore neurological function and reclaim a normal life through scientific, precision-based medical interventions.
pBFS Educational Spotlight
01. What is pBFS technology?
pBFS stands for “Personalized Brain Functional Sub-region Parcellation.” Relying on functional MRI (fMRI) scanning, this technology precisely divides the human brain into over 200 clearly defined functional regions, generating a unique “brain function fingerprint” for each patient. It accurately captures the distinct characteristics of an individual’s brain network, providing a scientific basis for selecting clinical rehabilitation targets and implementing precision interventions.
02. Which conditions can pBFS treat?
Currently, pBFS technology is widely used in the clinical rehabilitation of various neurological disorders, including depression, autism, post-stroke hemiplegia, aphasia, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, cutting-edge clinical research is underway to apply this technology to conditions such as chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with its scope of application continuing to expand.
03. How does pBFS technology work?
Personalized Brain Functional Sub-region Parcellation (pBFS) is a technique for segmenting the cerebral cortex into functional regions based on an individual patient’s brain imaging data. By utilizing resting-state functional MRI (fMRI), the technology precisely maps the organization of brain functional networks at the individual level, creating a personalized brain function atlas. By leveraging individual differences in brain function, this technology iteratively identifies precise functional network lesion sites. The resulting functional brain maps demonstrate exceptional reproducibility across individuals while clearly revealing functional heterogeneity among different patients. It enables clinicians to observe human brain function and neural connectivity through the lens of neural circuits, precisely pinpoint areas of functional abnormality, and facilitate efficient, accurate neural intervention and repair—offering vast potential for clinical application.
04. How does pBFS technology determine treatment targets?
The medical team acquires patient brain data via functional MRI (fMRI) scans. By monitoring changes in the ratio of oxygenated to deoxygenated hemoglobin, the system precisely captures variations in neuronal metabolic activity and assesses the functional activity levels of various brain regions based on blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals.
By integrating pBFS individual brain function profiling technology, the system precisely delineates the patient’s unique functional brain zones and quantifies functional connectivity strength and cooperative dynamics between regions. It then correlates these findings with the specific neural circuit abnormalities associated with the patient’s condition and matches them against the biophysical properties of neuromodulation techniques. This process identifies the optimal brain sites—those offering the best intervention efficacy and most stable connectivity—to finalize precise treatment targets and formulate personalized rehabilitation plans.
05. Contraindications for pBFS technology
MRI-related scanning is contraindicated for individuals with implanted electronic devices or magnetic metal instruments, such as cochlear implants, cardiac pacemakers, or intracranial aneurysm clips. Patients with a history of epilepsy or those on long-term medication that lowers the seizure threshold are also contraindicated. Pregnant women and patients with severe heart disease require a comprehensive assessment by a specialist to determine the feasibility of the examination and treatment.

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