Functional reorganization of brain in children affected with congenital hemiplegia: fMRI study.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the brain activation related to unilateral sequential finger-to-thumb opposition was studied in six children with a right congenital hemiplegia of cortical origin. They were compared to six age-matched controls. In the control group, movements with either hand asymmetrically activated the sensorimotor cortex and premotor areas in both cerebral hemispheres with a typical contralateral predominance. By contrast, paretic finger movements activated both hemispheres in the hemiplegic patients, with a strong ipsilateral predominance favoring the undamaged hemisphere. The activation induced by nonparetic finger movements was restricted to the contralateral undamaged hemisphere. Furthermore, the level of activation in the undamaged cortex was partly related to residual finger dexterity, according to covariance analysis. These activation patterns indicate an adaptive reorganization of the cortical motor networks in this group of patients, with a prominent involvement of the undamaged hemisphere in the control of finger movements with either hand.
Vandermeeren
Yves
Y
Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Louvain School of Medicine, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium.
Sébire
Guillaume
G
Grandin
Cécile B
CB
Thonnard
Jean-Louis
JL
Schlögel
Xavier
X
De Volder
Anne G
AG
D000293:Adolescent; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology; D006429:Hemiplegia / Q000151:congenital* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology