Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 3, 2025
Electroencephalography Network Indices as Biomarkers of Upper Limb Impairment in Chronic Stroke
Published on: July 14, 2023
The Neurophysiological Impact of Subacute Stroke: Changes in Cortical Oscillations Evoked by Bimanual Finger Movement
Ana Dionísio1,2,3, Rita Gouveia1, João Castelhano1,3
1Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health ICNAS, Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research CIBIT, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Introduction:
To design more effective interventions, such as neurostimulation, for stroke rehabilitation, there is a need to understand early physiological changes that take place that may be relevant for clinical monitoring. We aimed to study changes in neurophysiology following recent ischemic stroke, both at rest and with motor planning and execution.
Materials And Methods:
We included 10 poststroke patients, between 7 and 10 days after stroke, and 20 age-matched controls to assess changes in cortical motor output via transcranial magnetic stimulation and in dynamics of oscillations, as recorded using electroencephalography (EEG).
Results:
We found significant differences in cortical oscillatory patterns comparing stroke patients with healthy participants, particularly in the beta rhythm during motor planning (p = 0.011) and execution (p = 0.004) of a complex movement with fingers from both hands simultaneously. Discussion. The stroke lesion induced a decrease in event-related desynchronization in patients, in comparison to controls, providing evidence for decreased disinhibition.
Conclusions:
After a stroke lesion, the dynamics of cortical oscillations is changed, with an increasing neural beta synchronization in the course of motor preparation and performance of complex bimanual finger tasks. The observed patterns may provide a potential functional measure that could be used to monitor and design interventional approaches in subacute stages.
