Mirror therapy activates outside of cerebellum and ipsilateral M1.
Mirror therapy is effective in the rehabilitation of patients with hemiparesis, but its mechanism is not clear. In this study, a patient with brain tumor (patient 1) who underwent mirror therapy after surgery and showed drastic recovery of hand paresis, a patient with visual memory disturbance (patient 2), and five normal volunteers performed tasks related to mirror therapy in fMRI study. In patient 1 and all normal volunteers, right and left hand clenching with looking at a mirror (eye open) activated outside of cerebellum, while right and left hands clenching with eye closed activated inside of cerebellum. In patient 2, mirror therapy did not activate outside of cerebellum. In patient 1, and 3 out of 5 normal volunteers, the area of right (affected) M1 activated by right and left hands clenching with eye open was more than that by right and left hands clenching with eye closed, and that right M1 was activated by right hand clenching with eye open. In conclusion, mirror therapy facilitate the paresis of patients by activating ipsilateral M1 and outside of cerebellum, which is possibly related to visual memory function.
Department of Neurosurgery, Komagome Metropolitan Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. shinoura@cick.jp
Nobusada
N
Shinoura
Yuichi
Y
Suzuki
Yasuko
Y
Watanabe
Ryozi
R
Yamada
Yusuke
Y
Tabei
Kuniaki
K
Saito
Kazuo
K
Yagi
D000328:Adult; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006225:Hand / Q000294:innervation; D006429:Hemiplegia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000534:rehabilitation