Investigating the Long-Term Cortical Effects of Peripheral Nerve Injury At Birth

Peripheral nerve injury results in a number of cortical changes due to the lack of sensory and motor stimuli. Although functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that revealed the changes in the cortical activation exist, the cortical activation changes in obstetrical brachial plexus injury is poorly known. For this reason, the aim of this study is to investigate the cortical activity during rest and with stimulation by fMRI in patients with OBPI.

Patients with OBPI diagnosis in the cervical 5-6 (C5-6) (upper trunk) who are followed up in Gazi University Faculty of Health Sciences Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Division of Hand Rehabilitation will participate in the study. Patients with a surgery history at least 5 years ago and over 10 years age will be included. Clinical motor and sensory assessments will be performed to help in explaining the analyses of cortical activation. In their first visit, clinical assessments including Active Movement Scale, modified Mallet Classification (MMC) and sensory tests will be performed; while fMRI scanning will be carried out in the second visit. Patients will be scanned for 3 paradigms at one single fMRI session: at rest and during sensory stimulation and watching videos of motor movements. Video images will include the 5 movements used in MMC and will be watched by glasses integrated in the MRI device. Images obtained from MR scanning will be analyzed with analysis programs like Leonardo, Fresurfer, SPM, BrainVoyager and clinical results will be compared to MR images.