Structural Plasticity in Stroke Inferred by Probabilistic Tractography & MEG

Monica Bucci¹, Kelly Westlake¹, Christopher Nguyen¹, Bagrat Amirbekian¹, Srikantan Nagarajan¹, Roland G. Henry¹

Structural remodeling of white matter may occur in motor recovery after stroke. We mapped the structural connectivity of the network of hand motor function, by combining magneto-encephalography, with HARDI diffusion MRI, in 4 controls and 4 stroke subjects before and after a robotic rehabilitation intervention. In 4 control subjects we successfully mapped the structural connectivity of the motor network. When tracking in stroke patients we observed improved structural connectivity for the ipsilesional M1 connections to contralateral M1 and to the ipsilesional ventral PMC in the patient with the best recovery score and different degrees of structural changes in the others.