Different Brain Connectivity between Responders and Nonresponders to Dual-Mode Noninvasive Brain Stimulation over Bilateral Primary Motor Cortices in Stroke Patients

Figure 4

The significant difference of homotopic connectivity between hemispheres before and after stimulation. White connectivity indicates that the strength of contralesional connectivity is significantly greater than that of ipsilesional connectivity. Black connectivity indicates that the strength of ipsilesional connectivity is significantly greater than that of contralesional connectivity. Gray connectivity indicates that there is no difference in the strength of homotopic connectivity between hemispheres. The more white connectivity the adjacency matrix has, the more contralesional dominance the motor network is. The motor network in the responders before stimulation showed contralesional dominance. After stimulation in the responders, the motor network became symmetric by changing from white connectivity to gray connectivity, whereas the motor network in the nonresponders before stimulation showed relatively symmetric. After stimulation in the nonresponders, there was no change in the degree of symmetry of the motor network.