Affiliations: Section Exp. MR of the CNS, Dept. of Neuroradiology,
University of Tuebingen | Dept. of Neurology, University of Tuebingen
Note: [] Correspondence to: Dr. M. Lotze, Dept. of Neuroradiology,
University of Tuebingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 3, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany;
Tel: +49-7071-29-80548; Fax: +49-7071-29 4371; E-mail:
[email protected]. de
Abstract: Activation maps in the primary motor cortex (M1) were investigated
in three patients with complete spinal cord injury (SCI) at level TH3, TH7 and
TH9 and in one patient with an incomplete spinal cord injury at level L1 during
right elbow (4 patients), right thumb (4 patients), bilateral lip (2 patients)
and right foot (3 patients during imagined, 1 patient during executed)
movements using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Compared to
controls fMRI activation maps of patients with complete paraplegia showed a
cranial displacement of the activation maxima in the contralateral primary
motor cortex during elbow movement of 13.3mm, whereas the maxima of thumb and
lip movements were not altered. The patient with an incomplete spinal cord
injury revealed no displacement of elbow activation maxima. The reorganization
is likely to occur on the cortical and not on the spinal level.
Keywords: Spinal cord injury, cortical plasticity, reorganization, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), primary motor cortex
