Functional Connectivity Analysis After SCI—A FMRI Study

This study explored the differences in the functional connectivity after spinal cord injury (SCI). We studied 04 SCI subjects and 04 healthy non-SCI controls. All participants underwent structural and functional MRI on a 1.5-T magnetic resonance system while executing specific motor related tasks. Functional connectivity (FC) analysis was performed using SEED-to-Voxel correlation. The supplementary motor area and the precentral and postcentral gyri were chosen as references for FC evaluation. Results showed that the control group had additional reinforced connections in relation to the SCI group. In general, there was no reinforcement of connections in common regions between the groups. The areas whose connections were more strengthened for SCI were usually related to attention and concentration, whereas for the control group reinforcement occurred more expressively in regions directly related to the execution, planning and motor control. The results found in our study support that SCI causes a great impact in the cortical reorganization, especially in motor related regions.