Abstract
This study investigated activation of cerebral cortex in patients with hemiplegia that was caused by neural damage. Key-point control movement therapy of Bobath was performed for 9 weeks in 3 subjects with hemiplegia and fMRI was used to compare and analyze activated degree of cerebral cortex in these subjects. fMRI was conducted using the blood oxygen level-dependent(BOLD) technique at 3.0T MR scanner with a standard head coil. The motor activation task consisted of finger flexion-extension exercise in six cycles(one half-cycles = 8 scans = $3\;sec{\times}\;8\;=\;24\;sec$). Subjects performed this task according to visual stimulus that sign of right hand or left hand twinkled(500ms on, 500ms off). After mapping activation of cerebral motor cortex on hand motor function, below results were obtained. 1. Activation decreased in primary motor area, whereas it increased in supplementary motor area and visual association area(p<.001). 2. Activation was observed in bilateral medial frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus of left cerebrum, inferior frontal gyrus, inter-hemispheric, fusiform gyrus of right cerebrum, superior parietal lobule of parietal lobe and precuneus in subjedt 1, parahippocampal gyrus of limbic lobe and cingulate gyrus in subject 2, and inferior frontal gyrus of right frontal lobe, middle frontal gyrus, and inferior parietal lobule of left cerebrum in subject 3 (p<.001). 3. Activation cluster extended in declive of right cellebellum posterior lobe in subject 1, culmen of anterior lobe and declive of posterior lobe in subject 2, and dentate gyrus of anterior lobe, culmen and tuber of posterior lobe in subject 3 (p<.001). In conclusion, these data showed that Key-point control movement therapy of Bobath after stroke affect cerebral cortex activation by increasing efficiency of cortical networks. Therefore mapping of brain neural network activation is useful for plasticity and reorganization of cerebral cortex and cortico-spinal tract of motor recovery mechanisms after stroke.