Changes in cerebral activity after decreased upper-limb hypertonus: an EMG-fMRI study.

Objective: Whereas several studies have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate motor recovery, whether therapy to decrease post-stroke hypertonus alters central motor patterns remains unclear. In this study, we used continuous electromyography (EMG)-fMRI to investigate possible changes in movement-related brain activation in patients receiving Botulinum toxin (BoNT-A) for hand-muscle hypertonus after chronic stroke.

Methods: We studied eight stroke patients all of whom had hemiparesis and associated upper-limb hypertonus.

EEG and FMRI coregistration to investigate the cortical oscillatory activities during finger movement.

Electroencephalography combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG-fMRI) may be used to identify blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal changes associated with physiological and pathological EEG event. In this study we used EEG-fMRI to determine the possible correlation between topographical movement-related EEG changes in brain oscillatory activity recorded from EEG electrodes over the scalp and fMRI-BOLD cortical responses in motor areas during finger movement. Thirty-two channels of EEG were recorded in 9 subjects during eyes-open condition inside a 1.

Evaluation of botulinum toxin therapy of spastic equinus in paediatric patients with cerebral palsy.

Objective: To develop a clinical and instrumental protocol to assess the postural and dynamic effects following treatment with botulinum neurotoxin A in children with cerebral palsy affected by spastic equinus.

Design: Open study, in which every patient served as his or her own control.

Patients: Ten sequential children with cerebral palsy and spastic dynamic equinus foot.