Christoph Hollnagel1, Ningbo Yu1, Armin Blickenstorfer1,2, Peter Wolf1, Volker Dietz3, Spyros Kollias2, Robert Riener1
1D-MAVT, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland; 2University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 3University Hospital Balgrist, Zurich, Switzerland
Rehabilitative training of spinal cord injured patients is only successful, if patients are not immobile over a long time. An immobile phase may result in degradation of nerve cells. Mechanism leading to degradation of nerve cells and effects of rehabilitative training are not well understood but knowledge about this issue is desired to evaluate and improve rehabilitative training. Thus, we developed a magnetic resonance compatible stepper (MARCOS) to perform gait like movements while acquiring brain activation with functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI. This abstract describes the device and its influence to the magnetic fields of the scanner.