Immediate Effects of Anti-Spastic Epidural Cervical Spinal Cord Stimulation on Functional Connectivity of the Central Motor System in Patients with Stroke- and Traumatic Brain Injury-Induced Spasticity: A Pilot Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Objective: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is one approach to the potential improvement of patients with post-stroke or post-traumatic spasticity. However, little is known about whether and how such interventions alter supraspinal neural systems involved in the pathogenesis of spasticity. This pilot study investigated whether epidural spinal cord stimulation at the level of the C3–C5 cervical segments, aimed at reducing spasticity, alters the patterns of functional connectivity of the brain. Methods: Eight patients with spasticity in the right limbs as a result of left cerebral hemisphere damage (due to hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke or traumatic and anoxic brain injury) were assessed with fMRI immediately before and immediately after short-term (1 to 6 days) test cervical epidural SCS therapy. Eight demographically and clinically comparable patients with spasticity in the right extremities due to a left hemisphere ischemic stroke and brain injury who received conventional therapy were examined as a control group. All patients also had paresis of one or two limbs and hyperreflexia. Results: After the SCS therapy, there were three main findings: (1) higher functional connectivity of the brainstem to the right premotor cortex and changes in functional connectivity between cortical motor areas, (2) increased functional connectivity between the right and left lateral nodes of the sensorimotor network, and (3) a positive correlation between decreased spasticity in the right leg and increased functional connectivity within the right hemisphere sensorimotor cortex. All these changes in functional connectivity occurred with a statistically significant decrease in spasticity, as assessed using the modified Ashworth scale. The control group showed no decrease in spasticity or increase in functional connectivity in any of the seeds of interest. On the contrary, a decrease in functional connectivity of the brainstem and right postcentral gyrus was observed in this group during the observation period. Conclusions: We were thus able to detect intrinsic brain connectivity rearrangements that occurred during spasticity mitigation following short epidural SCS therapy. Significance: The clinical results obtained confirmed the efficacy of short-term anti-spastic SCS therapy. The obtained data on functional rearrangements of the central motor system may shed light on the mechanism of antispastic action of this procedure.