Bilateral movement enhances ipsilesional cortical activity in acute stroke: A pilot functional MRI study

Functional MRI was performed in two acute stroke patients and six control s ubjects performing unilateral and bilateral repetitive gripping tasks. Pati ents were tested at three time points during recovery. Initially, bilateral movement enhanced activation in the primary motor cortex (M1) of the affec ted hemisphere compared with unilateral paretic hand movement. With recover y, activation of M1 in the affected hemisphere did not differ between unila teral paretic hand and bilateral movement. These preliminary data may have potential implications for acute stroke motor rehabilitation.