Mechanisms underlying recovery of motor function after stroke.

Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability worldwide and a condition for which there is no universally accepted treatment. The development of new effective therapeutic strategies relies on a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying recovery of function. Noninvasive techniques to study brain function, including functional magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, transcranial magnetic stimulation, electroencephalography, and magnetoencephalography, led to recent studies that identified some of these operating mechanisms, resulting in the formulation of novel approaches to motor rehabilitation.