Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (Nov 2016)

Neurophysiological characterization of subacute stroke patients: a longitudinal study

  • Giuseppe Lamola,
  • Chiara Fanciullacci,
  • Chiara Fanciullacci,
  • Giada Sgherri,
  • Federica Bertolucci,
  • Alessandro Panarese,
  • Silvestro Micera,
  • Silvestro Micera,
  • Bruno Rossi,
  • Carmelo Chisari

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00574
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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Various degrees of neural reorganization may occur in affected and unaffected hemispheres in the early phase after stroke and several months later. Recent literature suggests to apply a stratification based on lesion location and to consider patients with cortico-subcortical and subcortical strokes separately: different lesion location may also influence therapeutic response. In this study we used a longitudinal approach to perform TMS assessment (Motor Evoked Potentials, MEP, and Silent Period, SP) and clinical evaluations (Barthel Index, Fugl-Meyer Assessment for upper limb motor function and Wolf Motor Function Test) in 10 cortical-subcortical and 10 subcortical ischemic stroke patients. Evaluations were performed in a window between 10 and 45 days (t0) and at 3 months after the acute event (t1). Our main finding is that 3 months after the acute event patients affected by subcortical stroke presented a reduction in contralateral SP duration in the unaffected hemisphere; this trend is related to clinical improvement of upper limb motor function. In conclusion, SP proved to be a valid parameter to characterize cortical reorganization patterns in stroke survivors and provided useful information about motor recovery within three months in subcortical patients.

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