Disappearance of unaffected motor cortex activation by rTMS in a cerebral infarct patient

The ipsilateral motor pathway from the unaffected motor cortex to the affected extremity is one of the motor recovery mechanisms following stroke. Some stroke patients had shown recovery by this mechanism usually showed poorer motor function, compared with patients who showed recovery by other mechanisms, and therefore, this mechanism has been considered as a maladaptive plasticity.

A few functional neuroimaging studies have demonstrated repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can activate ipsilateral motor cortex neurons and a single session of rTMS can produce an immediate effect on the unaffected motor cortex. However, there have been no functional neuroimaging studies on the effect of rTMS on unaffected motor cortex in patients with stroke. Dr. Sung Ho Jang and his team, College of Medicine of Yeungnam University in Republic of Korea found using functional MRI technology that unaffected motor cortex activation disappeared in a patient with cerebral infarct after 2 weeks of rTMS.

These results were published in Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 7, 2014).

More information:
Seo JP, Jang SH. Disappearance of unaffected motor cortex activation by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in a patient with cerebral infarct. Neural Regen Res. 2014;9(7):761-762.

Provided by Neural Regeneration Research