Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Therapy for Aphasia (review) / 中国康复理论与实践

Positive outcomes have been reported about the transcranial magnetic stimulation for aphasia. This paper reviewed the relat-ed literatures about repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation used in clinical and research, and discussed the possible mechanisms in the recovery of aphasia, and the roles of hemispheres in brain.

Motor Recovery in Stroke Patients / 영남의대학술지

Stroke is a leading cause of chronic physical disability. The recent randomized controlled trials have that motor function of chronic stroke survivors could be improved through physical or pharmacologic intervention in the stroke rehabilitation setting. In addition, several functional neuroimaging techniques have recently developed, it is available to study the functional topography of sensorimotor area of the brain. However, the mechanisms involved in motor recovery after stroke, are still poorly understood. Four motor recovery mechanisms have been suggested, such as reorganization into areas adjacent to the injured primary motor cortex (M1), unmasking of the motor pathway from the unaffected motor cortex to the affected hand, attribution of secondary motor areas, and recovery of the damaged contralateral corticospinal tract. Understanding the motor recovery mechanisms would provide neurorehabilitation specialists with more information to allow for precise prognosis and therapeutic strategies based on the scientific evidence; this may help promote recovery of motor function. This review introduces several methodologies for neuroimaging techniques and discusses theoretical issues that impact interpretation of functional imaging studies of motor recovery after stroke. Perspectives, for future research are presented.

The Time-course of Neurologic Recovery in Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

Possible mechanisms of neurologic recovery in spinal cord injury were postulated by Ditunno Jr. JF in 1987. The first window encompasses recovery from neurapraxia within 6 to 8 weeks. The second window covers the period from 2 to 8 months after the injury. Recovery during this period might be due to peripheral sprouting of intact nerves to denervated muscle and hypertrophy of functioning muscles. The third window of recovery happens usually beyond 8 to 12 months when axonal regeneration may play a role in further increases in strength. On the basis of these possible mechanisms, we measured the neurological and functional recovery rate according to the periods of these possible mechanisms of motor recovery through 12 months following injury in 21 traumatic spinal cord injury patients. The results were as follows: 1) Neurologically, the most rapid recovery was shown within 6 to 8 weeks after injury, during the phase of recovery from neurapraxia. 2) Most of functional recovery occured in the period between 2 month and 8 month of the compensatory phase. 3) Statistically significant correlation between motor and functional recovery was shown among the incomplete spinal cord injury group. These data would be helpful in planning a timely appropriate rehabilitation program by understanding the time-course of neurologic recovery and prognostication of neurologic and functional recovery in the spinal-cord injured.