Stroke Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Stroke, including details on treatment, recovery, rehabilitation, signs, symptoms. | ||||||||
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Cortical reorganization of hand motor function to primary sensory cortex in hemiparetic patients with a primary motor cortex infarct.Jang SH, Ahn SH, Yang DS, Lee DK, Kim DK, Son SM Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Yeungnam University School of Medicine, Taegu, South Korea. OBJECTIVE: To show cortical reorganization in hemiparetic patients with a primary motor cortex (M1) infarct including the precentral knob by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). DESIGN: Case-control. SETTING: Outpatient clinics in the rehabilitation department of a university hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Two stroke patients and 20 control subjects. INTERVENTIONS: By using fMRI, we evaluated the hand motor function of 2 hemiparetic stroke patients, who had made some recovery from complete paralysis of the affected hand, and 20 control subjects. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: fMRI was performed by using the blood oxygen level-dependent technique at 1.5 T with a standard head coil. The motor task paradigm consisted of hand grasp-release movements. RESULTS: The contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex was activated by the hand movements of the control subjects and of the unaffected side of the 2 patients. Only the contralateral (infarct side) primary sensory cortex (S1) was activated by the movements of the affected hand of the 2 patients, a result that was not observed in the control subjects or with the unaffected hand in the stroke patients. CONCLUSIONS: The hand motor function associated with the infarcted M1 in our patients was reorganized into the S1. These results suggest cortical reorganization in patients with an M1 infarct. Published 8 August 2005 in Arch Phys Med Rehabil, 86(8): 1706-8.
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