https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-025-01514-1
Regular Article
Changes in functional connectivity of brain regions associated with movement and awareness under the influence of cervical epidural spinal cord stimulation in chronic disorders of consciousness: a pilot study
1
Federal Research and Clinical Center of Intensive Care Medicine and Rehabilitology, Lytkino, 777, 141534, Solnechnogorsk, Russia
2
Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of Russian Academy of Science, 5A Butlerova St., 117485, Moscow, Russia
Received:
13
December
2024
Accepted:
6
February
2025
Published online:
24
February
2025
Cervical epidural spinal cord stimulation has great potential for the correction of various neurologic deficits, but the efficacy and mechanism of such effects are not sufficiently studied. In this study, we examine the functional rearrangements of the brain under the influence of epidural spinal cord stimulation in patients with spasticity syndrome and chronic disorders of consciousness. We performed spinal cord stimulation in nine patients and compared the effect with a control group of nine patients. Resting-state functional MRI data were acquired using a 1.5 T system and processed using the statistical parametric mapping package. We tested the hypotheses that stimulation affects the sensorimotor system of the brain and the brain systems involved in the realization of consciousness function. Our results confirmed the effect of the procedure on the sensorimotor system of the brain; we found both intra- and crosshemispheric enhancements of functional connectivity of motor areas in the patients of the main group. It was also shown that the absence of stimulation leads to deconsolidation of connections in the network of motor areas. Also, due to spinal cord stimulation, a number of nonspecific enhancements of functional connectivity were observed, which are difficult to interpret at this stage of development of the issue. Our results extend the few available insights into the mechanisms of spinal cord stimulation effects on higher central nervous system compartments.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
