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Updated: Aug 30, 2026
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy of the Sensory and Motor Brain Regions with Simultaneous Kinematic and EMG Monitoring During Motor Tasks
Published on: December 5, 2014
Functional reorganization of brain in children affected with congenital hemiplegia: fMRI study
Yves Vandermeeren1, Guillaume Sébire, Cécile B Grandin
1Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Louvain School of Medicine, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium.
Insights
Children with congenital hemiplegia show altered brain activation patterns during finger movements. The undamaged hemisphere plays a key role in controlling hand function, indicating adaptive reorganization in motor networks.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Motor Control
Background:
- Congenital hemiplegia is a motor disorder affecting one side of the body.
- Understanding brain plasticity in pediatric neurological conditions is crucial for rehabilitation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate brain activation patterns during fine motor tasks in children with congenital hemiplegia.
- To compare motor cortex activation between affected and unaffected individuals.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure brain activity.
- Six children with right congenital hemiplegia and six age-matched controls performed sequential finger-to-thumb opposition tasks.
Main Results:
- Control subjects showed typical contralateral sensorimotor cortex activation.
- Hemiplegic patients exhibited bilateral activation, with ipsilateral predominance in the undamaged hemisphere for paretic hand movements.
- Non-paretic hand movements in hemiplegic patients activated the contralateral undamaged hemisphere.
Conclusions:
- Children with congenital hemiplegia demonstrate adaptive reorganization of cortical motor networks.
- The undamaged hemisphere shows significant involvement in controlling finger movements, correlating with dexterity.
- These findings highlight the brain's capacity for plasticity in response to early-onset neurological injury.
Abstract:
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the brain activation related to unilateral sequential finger-to-thumb opposition was studied in six children with a right congenital hemiplegia of cortical origin. They were compared to six age-matched controls. In the control group, movements with either hand asymmetrically activated the sensorimotor cortex and premotor areas in both cerebral hemispheres with a typical contralateral predominance. By contrast, paretic finger movements activated both hemispheres in the hemiplegic patients, with a strong ipsilateral predominance favoring the undamaged hemisphere. The activation induced by nonparetic finger movements was restricted to the contralateral undamaged hemisphere. Furthermore, the level of activation in the undamaged cortex was partly related to residual finger dexterity, according to covariance analysis. These activation patterns indicate an adaptive reorganization of the cortical motor networks in this group of patients, with a prominent involvement of the undamaged hemisphere in the control of finger movements with either hand.
