This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 39/10/2769    most recent STROKEAHA.108.518027v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Oshino, S. Articles by Yoshimine, T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Oshino, S. Articles by Yoshimine, T. Related Collections Electrophysiology Other arteriosclerosis Other diagnostic testing Other imaging

(Stroke. 2008;39:2769.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Original Contributions

Ipsilateral Motor-Related Hyperactivity in Patients With Cerebral Occlusive Vascular Disease

Satoru Oshino, MD, PhD; Amami Kato, MD, PhD; Masayuki Hirata, MD, PhD; Haruhiko Kishima, MD, PhD; Youichi Saitoh, MD, PhD; Toshiyuki Fujinaka, MD, PhD Toshiki Yoshimine, MD, PhD

From Department of Neurosurgery (S.O., M.H., H.K., Y.S., T.F.,T.Y.), Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan; Department of Neurosurgery (A.K.), Kinki University School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.

Correspondence to Satoru Oshino, Department of Neurosurgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, 565-0871, Osaka, Japan. E-mail s-oshino{at}nsurg.med.osaka-u.ac.jp

Background and Purpose— Cerebral occlusive vascular disease is an established risk factor for ischemic stroke; however, little is known about its effects on brain function in patients without stroke. To detect possible functional alterations, we used magnetoencephalography and evaluated cerebral cortical activity during hand motor tasks in a group of such patients.

Method— Event-related desynchronization (ERD) during hand-grasping and self-paced finger-tapping tasks was examined in 38 right-hand-dominant patients with occlusive disease of the internal carotid or middle cerebral artery caused by diverse pathologies (atherosclerosis, 28; others, 10) and in 8 control subjects. All patients had no apparent motor impairments. The spatial distribution and the intensity (t value) of ERD in the beta band were analyzed with synthetic aperture magnetometry. According to the laterality index calculated from the ratios of peak t values on ipsilateral vs contralateral (with respect to the hand movement) hemispheres, the distribution of ERD was classified into 3 patterns: contralateral, bilateral, and ipsilateral.

Results— Abnormal ipsilateral dominant distribution of beta ERD was observed significantly more often during contralesional hand grasping in patients with atherosclerotic vascular lesion. It was accompanied by significantly higher t values on the ipsilateral hemisphere, without a decrease in those on the contralateral side. The age, the rating scores of periventricular hyperintensity, and ventricular size were all significantly higher in patients who showed the ipsilateral-dominant pattern.

Conclusion— Abnormal ipsilateral hyperactivity may indicate the presence of subclinical functional alterations related to atherosclerotic occlusive vascular disease.

Key Words: carotid stenosis • functional imaging • ischemia • neurophysiology