title: Patterns in cortical connectivity for determining outcomes in hand function after subcortical stroke.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous studies have noted changes in resting-state functional connectivity during motor recovery following stroke. However, these studies always uncover various patterns of motor recovery. Moreover, subgroups of stroke patients with different outcomes in hand function have rarely been studied.
  
  
  METHODS
  We selected 24 patients who had a subcortical stroke in the left motor pathway and displayed only motor deficits. The patients were divided into two subgroups: completely paralyzed hands (CPH) (12 patients) and partially paralyzed hands (PPH) (12 patients). Twenty-four healthy controls (HC) were also recruited. We performed functional connectivity analysis in both the ipsilesional and contralesional primary motor cortex (M1) to explore the differences in the patterns between each pair of the three diagnostic groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with the HC, the PPH group displays reduced connectivity of both the ipsilesional and contralesional M1 with bilateral prefrontal gyrus and contralesional cerebellum posterior lobe. The connectivity of both the ipsilesional and contralesional M1 with contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex was reduced in the CPH group. Additionally, the connectivity of the ipsilesional M1 with contralesional postcentral gyrus, superior parietal lobule and ipsilesional inferior parietal lobule was reduced in the CPH group compared with the PPH group. Moreover, the connectivity of these regions was positively correlated with the Fugl-Meyer Assessment scores (hand+wrist) across all stroke patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patterns in cortical connectivity may serve as a potential biomarker for the neural substratum associated with outcomes in hand function after subcortical stroke.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Key Laboratory of Brain Function Genomics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Dazhi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Dongrong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Bradley S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: Limin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Men
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Mingxia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009434:Neural Pathways; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology*