Motor Impairment in Stroke Patients Is Associated With Network Properties During Consecutive Motor Imagery

Our study aimed to predict the Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA) upper limb using network properties during motor imagery using electroencephalography (EEG) signals.

The subjects performed a finger tapping imagery task according to consecutive cues. We measured the weighted phase lag index (wPLI) as functional connectivity and directed transfer function (DTF) as causal connectivity in healthy controls and stroke patients. The network properties based on the wPLI and DTF were calculated. We predicted the FMA upper limb using partial least squares regression.

A higher DTF in the mu band was observed in stroke patients than in healthy controls. Notably, the difference in local properties at node F3 was negatively correlated with motor impairment in stroke patients. Finally, using significant network properties based on the wPLI and DTF, we predicted motor impairments using the FMA upper limb with a root-mean-square error of 1.68 ( R² = 0.97). This outperformed the state-of-the-art predictors.

These findings demonstrate that network properties based on functional and causal connectivity were highly associated with motor function in stroke patients.

Our network properties can help calculate the predictor of motor impairments in stroke rehabilitation and provide insight into the neural correlates related to motor function based on EEG after reorganization induced by stroke.