NEUROIMAGING IN NEUROREHABILITATION

The mechanisms of functional recovery ensuing focal brain lesions in m an are poorly understood. Structural brain imaging has enabled a detai led in vivo correlation of the clinical deficit and the anatomy of the associated brain lesions. Functional neuroimaging allows for assessin g determinants and features of cerebral reorganization related to func tional restitution. Here, quantitative results of neuroimaging in stro ke recovery, in adaptation to brain tumours, and in compensation of mo tor neuronal degeneration are described. It will be shown that both, p lastic changes of the cortical representation of function and the inte grity of thalamic circuitry, are of crucial importance for recovery of function. The observations of such studies may have a critical impact for conceptual strategies in neurorehabilitation.