Optimizing fMRI Techniques for Post-stroke Motor Rehabilitation: Preliminary Protocol Standardization

This paper presents preliminary results of the standardization for the acquisition of fMRI scans for post-stroke motor rehabilitation in the MRI service of the Mexican National Institute of Rehabilitation. fMRI scans of 9 healthy volunteers (30.22 ± SD 3.41 years) with no prior history of neurological or psychiatric disorders were acquired while they performed a motor paradigm that included tasks of action observation plus motor execution (AOME) and action observation plus motor imagery (AOMI) for fist and finger tapping. Our findings revealed that the primary cortical surfaces (precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, supplementary motor area, and premotor cortex) had a functional gradient with higher values for AOME and lower values for AOMI, which is in line with existing literature, indicating that this standardized approach can be beneficial for routinely carrying out post-stroke motor rehabilitation research projects.