Impact of injury duration on a sensorimotor functional network in complete spinal cord injury

Connectivity changes after spinal cord injury (SCI) appear as dynamic post-injury procedures. The present study aimed to investigate the alterations in the functional connectivity (FC) in different injury duration in complete SCI using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A total of 30 healthy controls (HCs) and 27 complete SCI patients were recruited in this study. A seed-based connectivity analysis compared FC differences between HCs and SCI and among SCI subgroups (SCI patients with post-injury within 6 months (early stage, n = 13) vs. those with post-injury beyond 6 months (late stage, n = 14)). Compared to HCs, SCI patients showed an increase in FC between sensorimotor cortex and cognitive, visual, and auditory cortices. The FC between motor cortex and cognitive cortex increased over time after injury. The FC between sensory cortex and visual cortex increased within 6 months after SCI, while FC between the sensory cortex and auditory cortex increased beyond 6 months after injury. The FC between sensorimotor cortex and cognitive, visual, auditory regions increased in complete SCI patients. The brain FC changed dynamically, and rehabilitation might be adapted over time after SCI.