Coherent neural oscillations inform early stroke motor recovery

Abstract

Neural oscillations may contain important information pertaining to stroke rehabilitation. This study examined the predictive performance of electroencephalography‐derived neural oscillations following stroke using a data‐driven approach. Individuals with stroke admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation facility completed a resting‐state electroencephalography recording and structural neuroimaging around the time of admission and motor testing at admission and discharge. Using a lasso regression model with cross‐validation, we determined the extent of motor recovery (admission to discharge change in Functional Independence Measurement motor subscale score) prediction from electroencephalography, baseline motor status, and corticospinal tract injury. In 27 participants, coherence in a 1–30 Hz band between leads overlying ipsilesional primary motor cortex and 16 leads over bilateral hemispheres predicted 61.8% of the variance in motor recovery. High beta (20–30 Hz) and alpha (8–12 Hz) frequencies contributed most to the model demonstrating both positive and negative associations with motor recovery, including high beta leads in supplementary motor areas and ipsilesional ventral premotor and parietal regions and alpha leads overlying contralesional temporal–parietal and ipsilesional parietal regions. Electroencephalography power, baseline motor status, and corticospinal tract injury did not significantly predict motor recovery during hospitalization (R2 = 0–6.2%). Findings underscore the relevance of oscillatory synchronization in early stroke rehabilitation while highlighting contributions from beta and alpha frequency bands and frontal, parietal, and temporal–parietal regions overlooked by traditional hypothesis‐driven prediction models.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Enhances Neuroplasticity and Accelerates Motor Recovery in a Stroke Mouse Model

“…Increased TotCoh following tDCS might correlate with the timing of recovery; indeed, higher speed of motor improvement was consistently observed in all behavioral tests in tDCS-stimulated stroke mice, whereas sham-stimulated stroke mice showed slower spontaneous recovery accompanied by lower values of TotCoh. Our contention is in agreement with recent clinical studies, 19,38–41 demonstrating correlations between functional abnormalities of brain networks and poststroke clinical outcomes and suggesting that connectivity changes at baseline (ie, in days immediately following stroke) could be used as a predictive index of stroke recovery (measured by specific scales used clinically in stroke).…”

Relation Between EEG Measures and Upper Limb Motor Recovery in Stroke Patients: A Scoping Review

“…Of note, a recent paper (which was not part of our database since its publication was after our search end date) has highlighted a prominent role of coherence, rather than power, in predicting early motor recovery after acute stroke. Specifically, only the low beta band recorded on M1 demonstrated negative associations with motor recovery, highlighting the maladaptive nature of beta coherence between ipsilesional M1 and ipsilesional parietal and controlateral temporal and supplementary motor area in early stroke recovery (Cassidy et al 2021 ). Interestingly, another work of the same group (not found by the research strategy used) showed that delta band coherence with ipsilesional M1 was related to greater injury and poorer motor status in a subacute timeframe (Cassidy et al 2020 ).…”

Leveraging Factors of Self-Efficacy and Motivation to Optimize Stroke Recovery

“…Additionally, significant decrease in alpha coherence (connectivity) involving regions overlying anterior frontal cortex negatively correlated with self-agency. Past work demonstrating the involvement of neural oscillations in the alpha frequency band in stroke recovery (107,108) encourage additional work to validate these findings in a stroke cohort.…”