Application of single-photon emission computed tomography in modified constraint-induced movement therapy to improve limb motor function in senile cerebral infarction patients

Objective To observe the correlation of brain functional reorganization and motor functional restoration with application of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and regional cerebral blood flow ( rCBF) in modified constraint-induced movement therapy ( mCIMT) in cerebral infarction patients with hemiplegia.Methods Twelve patients with cerebral infarction with hemiplegia (7 males and 5 females, aged 62-75 ( 67.9 ± 6.5) years) were treated with mCIMT for eight weeks.No movement restriction was applied to the limbs at the intact sides.The affected sides exercised 4 h per day with 1 h on the upper limbs and 3 h on the lower limbs.At the same time, semi-quantitative analysis method of analyzing SPECT and rCBF was used to record changes in brain.Simple test for evaluating hand function (STEF), 10 m maximum walking speed ( MWS) , rCBF changes in the cerebral cortex ischemic lesion were respectively assessed in the pretreatment and post-treatment.Results After the treatment, STEF score of affected sides was 76.33 ± 17.13(t = -6.09) ; STEF score of intact was 86.25 ± 16.84(t = -5.86) ;The score of MWS was 6.78 ± 3.72 (t = 4.88); Ischemic score of radioactive counts was - 10.12 ± 7.25 (t = 5.33), improved from pre-treatment and the difference was statistically significant (all P ＜ 0.05 ) .Conclusions mCIMT markedly improved motor function in senile cerebral infarction patients with hemiplegia as shown on SPECT.It showed that this improvement is associated with changes in brain plasticity, suggesting that improved motor function may be related to the redistribution of regional cerebral blood flow in the cerebral cortex. Key words: Brain infarction;  Hemiplegia;  Exercise therapy;  Tomography, emissioncomputed, single-photon