The Role of MR in Promoting Long Term Recovery from Stroke

Rudiger J. Seitz ¹

Stroke recovery is a dynamic process which can be monitored with MR imaging. Recovery starts in the acute state of the disease with rapid arterial recanalization of the occluded cerebral artery. In the manifest infarct lesion, functional reorganization represents the physiological basis for training-related recovery. Reorganization has a perilesional and a bihemispheric aspect. The participation of the non-affected, contralesional hemisphere is critically modulated by an abnormal interhemispheric balance. Successful recovery shares similarities with learning and results in a normalization of the cerebral activation patterns.