The relationship between neural network damage and the gait function in lower limbs in patients post-stroke

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the damage of neural network poststroke from functional MRI (fMRI) analysis and the impact on the gait function from 3 dimensional (3D) motion analysis. Method: A total of 11 patients after subactue stroke were recruited in this study and examined with fMRI. In fMRI fraction anistrophy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were recorded. 3D-kinematic data of gait were also analyzed. The correlation coefficient between the neural functional damage and the gait changes was investigated. Clinical scales were used to evaluate the motor function, balance and quality of life of the recruited subjects. Result: FA of affected side was significantly lower than that of unaffected side. There was no significant difference in ADC value between the two sides. The correlation analysis showed that there was significant correlation between FA and step time of affected side. There was no significant correlation between FA and scores of function assessment scales. Conclusion: FA value of stroke patients could reflect the damage of corticospinal tract and might monitor the disease course post stroke in certain extent and the analysis of motor function outcome might be helpful to explain the motor recovery mechanism.