Cortical Activation of the Somatosensory Hand Area in Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy Patients. : fMRI Study. -Case Reports-

Lee, Zee Ihn

Ann Clin Neurophysiol > 2005 ;7(1) > Article

Ann Clin Neurophysiol. 2005; 7(1): 34-36.

Zee Ihn Lee

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Two hemiplegic cerebral palsy patients were studied to investigate the cortical mechanisms underlying preserved somatosensory capacity, using functional MRI(fMRI). Tactile stimulation was performed by brushing of palm, during fMRI study. By the affected hand stimulation, contralateral primary somatosensory cortex was activated in patient 1 and cortical area anterior to the lesion site was activated in patient 2. We suggest that reorganization of the somatosensory cortex after brain injury can be induced by recruitment of undamaged areas adjacent to lesion site.

Key words: Functional MRI, Cerebral palsy, Somatosensory cortex