Dionyssios Mintzopoulos1,2, Loukas G. Astrakas1,3, Azadeh Khanicheh4, Angelos A. Konstas5, Michael A. Moskowitz2,6, Bruce R. Rosen5, A. Aria Tzika1,2
1NMR Surgical Laboratory, MGH & Shriners Hospitals, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; 2Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Boston, MA, USA; 3Medical Physics, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece, USA; 4Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA; 5Radiology, MGH, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; 6Neuroscience Center, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Using a hand motor task, we investigated functional reorganization of motor systems by probing connectivity between motor related areas in chronic stroke patients undergoing training with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 3T combined with a novel MR-compatible hand-induced robotic device (MR_CHIROD). The results demonstrate that rehabilitation training enhances the connectivity between motor areas in chronic stroke patients that may help counterbalance a functionally abnormal M1 motor area in stroke patients thus suggesting neuroplasticity in chronic stroke.