Combined BOLD fMRI and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study： Evaluation of Ipsilateral Motor Pathway of Stroke Patients

Purpose： In this study, we investigated the possible motor pathways of hemiplegic stroke patients usin combined TMS and BOLD fMRI approach and evaluated the correlation between TMS a fMRI methods. Method： Four subjects, who demonstrated left hemiplegia after stroke, are included. TMS was performed using a Dantec Mag2 stimulator (Dantec Company, USA) in single puls mode with figure eight-shaped coil. Following TMS localization, The BOLD T2＊-weight images were acquired with echo planar imaging sequence (TR = 1.2 sec, TE = 60 msec, and flip angle = 90). Motor activation was studied by means of a repetitive fing flexion-extension task. The stimulation protocol comprised 10 cycles of alternating activati and rest (10 images per cycle). Total 60 cycles were performed and each cycle take abou 1.5 sec. The resulting images were then analyzed with STIMULATE (CMRR, U, o Minnesota) to generate functional maps using a student t-test (p < 0.0005) and cluste analysis.