OBJECTIVE: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides an opportunity to study the relationship between cerebral reorganization and functional recovery after stroke. The authors set out to demonstrate the feasibility of using fMRI to investigate mechanisms of recovery in individual patients presenting with severe motor impairment. METHODS: fMRI was performed during passive movement at both affected and unaffected wrists separately in 2 patients with pure motor stroke. Six scanning sessions were performed in each patient over the first 4 months after stroke. Seven control subjects were also studied, 1 of them over 6 sessions. The authors examined for longitudinal changes in cerebral responses to proprioceptive afferent input that correlated with motor recovery. RESULTS: In control subjects, passive movement of either wrist led to relative increases in brain activation in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex and supplementary motor area, the bilateral inferior parietal cortex and secondary somatosensory areas, and the ipsilateral cerebellum. Increases in brain activation correlating with motor recovery were observed in both the ipsilesional primary sensory and primary motor cortex in 1 patient with good motor recovery but not in another patient with poor recovery. No longitudinal changes were seen in the control subject. CONCLUSIONS: These 2 case reports demonstrate that functionally relevant changes in cerebral organization can be identified in individual patients.
OBJECTIVE: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides an opportunity to study the relationship between cerebral reorganization and functional recovery after stroke. The authors set out to demonstrate the feasibility of using fMRI to investigate mechanisms of recovery in individual patients presenting with severe motor impairment. METHODS: fMRI was performed during passive movement at both affected and unaffected wrists separately in 2 patients with pure motor stroke. Six scanning sessions were performed in each patient over the first 4 months after stroke. Seven control subjects were also studied, 1 of them over 6 sessions. The authors examined for longitudinal changes in cerebral responses to proprioceptive afferent input that correlated with motor recovery. RESULTS: In control subjects, passive movement of either wrist led to relative increases in brain activation in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex and supplementary motor area, the bilateral inferior parietal cortex and secondary somatosensory areas, and the ipsilateral cerebellum. Increases in brain activation correlating with motor recovery were observed in both the ipsilesional primary sensory and primary motor cortex in 1 patient with good motor recovery but not in another patient with poor recovery. No longitudinal changes were seen in the control subject. CONCLUSIONS: These 2 case reports demonstrate that functionally relevant changes in cerebral organization can be identified in individual patients.
Authors: Surjo R Soekadar; Matthias Witkowski; Jürgen Mellinger; Ander Ramos; Niels Birbaumer; Leonardo G Cohen Journal: IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng Date: 2011-10 Impact factor: 3.802
Authors: Marko Wilke; Martin Staudt; Hendrik Juenger; Wolfgang Grodd; Christoph Braun; Ingeborg Krägeloh-Mann Journal: Hum Brain Mapp Date: 2009-03 Impact factor: 5.038
Authors: Christian Enzinger; Heidi Johansen-Berg; Helen Dawes; Marko Bogdanovic; Jonathan Collett; Claire Guy; Stefan Ropele; Udo Kischka; Derick Wade; Franz Fazekas; Paul M Matthews Journal: Stroke Date: 2008-03-13 Impact factor: 7.914