[Possibilities of mirror therapy in cognitive rehabilitation after stroke]. / Vozmozhnosti zerkal'noi terapii v kognitivnoi reabilitatsii posle insul'ta.

The review provides a brief overview of the history of the development of mirror therapy. Current data on the putative mechanisms of mirror therapy as well as the theory of mirror neurons are presented. The authors describe the implementation of the effects of mirror therapy in motor rehabilitation after stroke, including motor imagination or mental simulation of actions, strengthening of spatial attention and self-perception, activation of the ipsilateral corticospinal tract, reorganization of neuronal networks that influence the state of structurally intact but functionally inactive neurons. The authors reflected the prerequisites for the use of mirror therapy in the rehabilitation of cognitive impairment in poststroke patients. The results of current clinical studies and case reports of the use of mirror therapy for the rehabilitation of speech and non-speech cognitive disorders, and neglect syndrome after stroke are presented.

[Assessment of disorders of neurodynamic processes in patients with acute ischemic stroke]. / Otsenka narushenii neirodinamicheskikh protsessov u bol'nykh v ostrom periode ishemicheskogo insul'ta.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a method for assessing neurodynamic disorders in the acute period of stroke. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty-three right-handed patients in the acute period of ischemic stroke (IS) were examined, including 28 patients with IS in the basin of the left middle cerebral artery (LMCA) (group 1), 19 patients with IS in the basin of the right middle cerebral artery (group 2) and 16 patients with IS in the vertebrobasilar system (group 3). The control group consisted of 37 healthy individuals. The «Tapping Test¼ technique developed by E.P. Ilyin was used to assess the strength of nervous processes. The mobility of nervous processes was determined by a complex sensorimotor reaction of discrimination. To assess the balance of the processes of excitation and inhibition, a complex sensorimotor reaction to a moving object was used. RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in the strength of nervous processes in the patients compared to the control group (p<0.0001), more pronounced in IS in LMCA. When checking the mobility of nervous processes in patients of groups 1 and 2, the number of errors was statistically significantly higher than in the control group (inertness of nervous processes). These indicators were the highest in patients with IS in LMCA while in patients of group 3 the lowest values, approaching the data of healthy individuals, were noted. When checking the balance of nervous processes, torpidity of reactions was noted in patients of group 1, torpidity when performing the test with a paretic hand was noted in group 2. In group 3 these indicators approach the data of healthy individuals, which reflected the approximate balance of the processes of excitation and inhibition. CONCLUSION: In the study of neurodynamic processes in patients in the acute period of IS, there was a decrease in strength, inertness, and torpidity of the mobility of nervous processes, more pronounced in the damage of the dominant hemisphere. It can be assumed that in the origin of these shifts in patients in the acute period of IS, a diaschisis plays an important role, and with left-sided localization of IS, not only the focal, but also its connective, transcallosal form.