No changes in functional connectivity during motor recovery beyond 5 weeks after stroke; A longitudinal resting-state fMRI study.

Spontaneous motor recovery after stroke appears to be associated with structural and functional changes in the motor network. The aim of the current study was to explore time-dependent changes in resting-state (rs) functional connectivity in motor-impaired stroke patients, using rs-functional MRI at 5 weeks and 26 weeks post-stroke onset. For this aim, 13 stroke patients from the EXPLICIT-stroke Trial and age and gender-matched healthy control subjects were included.

Brain activation is related to smoothness of upper limb movements after stroke.

It is unclear whether additionally recruited sensorimotor areas in the ipsilesional and contralesional hemisphere and the cerebellum can compensate for lost neuronal functions after stroke. The objective of this study was to investigate how increased recruitment of secondary sensorimotor areas is associated with quality of motor control after stroke. In seventeen patients (three females, fourteen males; age: 59.

Brain Function and Upper Limb Outcome in Stroke: A Cross-Sectional fMRI Study.

Objective: The nature of changes in brain activation related to good recovery of arm function after stroke is still unclear. While the notion that this is a reflection of neuronal plasticity has gained much support, confounding by compensatory strategies cannot be ruled out. We address this issue by comparing brain activity in recovered patients 6 months after stroke with healthy controls.

Functional neuroimaging studies of early upper limb recovery after stroke: a systematic review of the literature.

Background: Understanding mechanisms of recovery may result in new treatment strategies to improve motor outcome after stroke. Imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) allow changes in brain activity after stroke recovery to be identified.

Objective: To systematically review serial imaging studies on recovery within 6 months poststroke, assess their methodological quality, and identify trends in the association between task-related brain activation patterns and functional upper limb recovery.