Arm training induced brain plasticity in stroke studied with serial positron emission tomography

We used serial positron emission tomography (PET) to study training-induced brain plasticity after severe hemiparetic stroke. Ten patients were randomized to either task-oriented arm training or to a control group and scanned before and after 22.6 +/- 1.6 days of treatment using passive movements as an activation paradigm. Increases of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were assessed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM99). Before treatment, all stroke patients revealed bilateral activation of the inferior parietal cortex (IPC). After task-oriented arm training, activation was found bilaterally in IPC and premotor cortex, but also in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex (SMC). The control group only showed weak activation of the ipsilateral IPC. After treatment, the training group revealed relatively more activation bilaterally in IPC, premotor areas, and in the contralateral SMC. Five normal subjects showed no statistical significant differences between two separate PET studies. In this group of patients, task-oriented arm training induced functional brain reorganization in bilateral sensory and motor systems.