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Stroke recovery and rehabilitation

Imaging and stimulating recovery after stroke

Patterns of brain activity change after stroke. It has been suggested that these changes represent adaptive reorganisation that mediates functional recovery. We have tested the functional significance of such changes by serial brain imaging studies of patients undergoing rehabilitation or motor training and by testing the functional consequences of disrupting potentially adaptive brain activity. We have also tested how factors such as attention influence patterns of brain activity following stroke.

We use the information gained from imaging studies to design new therapeutic interventions. For example, non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation offers exciting potential as a therapeutic tool in stroke. We are testing whether repeated stimulation can improve motor function in chronic stroke patients and we use brain imaging to help us understand how this brain stimulation might lead to clinical improvements. 

Investigators:  YunYing Huang, Pierre Petitet, Laurie Josephs, Christel Gudberg, Jacinta O'Shea, Charlie Stagg, Heidi Johansen-Berg
Collaborators:  Udo Kischka, Helen Dawes
Current Funders:  Wellcome Trust; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford

Selected publications

  1. Stagg CJ, Bachtiar V, OShea J, Allman C, Bosnell RA, Kischka U, Matthews PM, Johansen-Berg H (2012). Cortical activation changes underlying stimulation-induced behavioural gains in chronic stroke. Brain 135(Pt 1):276-84.
  2. O'Shea J, Boudrias MH, Stagg CJ, Bachtiar V, Kischka U, Blicher JU, Johansen-Berg H (2014). Predicting behavioural response to TDCS in chronic motor stroke. Neuroimage 85 Pt 3:924-33.
  3. Stagg CJ, Best J, Stephenson, M, O'Shea J, Wylezinska M, Kincses Z, Morris P, Matthews PM, and Johansen-Berg, H (2009). Polarity-sensitive modulation of cortical neurotransmitters by transcranial stimulation J Neurosci 29(16):5202-5206.
  4. Crofts JJ, Higham DJ, Bosnell R, Jbabdi S, Matthews PM, Behrens TE, and Johansen-Berg H (2011). Network analysis detects changes in the contralesional hemisphere following stroke Neuroimage 54(1):161-169.
  5. Dennis A, Bosnell R, Dawes H, Howells K, Cockburn J, Kischka U, Matthews P, and Johansen-Berg H (2011). Cognitive context determines dorsal premotor cortical activity during hand movement in patients after stroke Stroke 42(4):1056-1061.
  6. Johansen-Berg H, Dawes H, Guy C, Smith SM, Wade DT, and Matthews PM (2002).
    Correlation between motor improvements and altered fMRI activity after rehabilitative therapy. Brain 125(Pt 12):2731-42.
  7. Johansen-Berg H, Rushworth MF, Bogdanovic MD, Kischka U, Wimalaratna S, and Matthews PM (2002). The role of ipsilateral premotor cortex in hand movement after stroke. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99(22):14518-23.