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Abstract #3647

Imaginary Toe-Tapping Causes Classic Motor Hand Area Activation in Bilateral Upper Limb Amputees

Feng Zhao1,2, Hong-Jian He3, Xiao-Jing Yu2, Yi-Xiang Wang1, Shi-Zheng Zhang4

1Department of Imaging & Interventional Radiology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, China, People's Republic of; 2Department of Radiology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hang Zhou, Zhe Jiang, China, People's Republic of; 3Bio-X laboratory of Physics Department, Zhejiang University, Hang Zhou, Zhe Jiang, China, People's Republic of; 4Department of Radiology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hang Zhou, Zhe Jiang, China, People's Republic of


Shift of cortical representation from neighbouring areas to the deafferented cortical representation after amputation has been reported. This study used fMRI to investigate cortical activation in bilateral upper limb amputees when they executed real and imagined toe-tapping. The result revealed the cortical area representing the missing hand was activated by executed and imagined toe tapping in amputees, which wasnt found in controls. These results suggested that after amputation the cortical reorganization is not limited to the adjacent cortex, and the area representing the missing hand also controls the real foot movement as well as the imagined foot movement.