Motor Recovery of the Affected Hand in Subacute Stroke Correlates with Changes of Contralesional Cortical Hand Motor Representation

Figure 5

Hand motor representation area (MMA) within the contralesional hemisphere at baseline and its changes after six weeks in two representative patients. P3 shows a good motor recovery of the affected hand between baseline and the six-week evaluation (WMFT score increases by 16 points; ARAT score increases by 19 points). This was associated with a decrease in size and volume of contralesional MMA, as well as with an anterior-medial shift of hand motor representation. P1 shows a poor motor recovery of the affected hand at the six-week evaluation (WMFT score and ARAT score did not change). This was associated with an increase in size and volume of contralesional MMA and a posterior-lateral shift of hand motor representation. A = anterior direction; Cz = vertex; P = posterior direction.