OBJECTIVE: In our multidisciplinary @entity158 clinic, three @entity1 with amputated limbs and with surgical indications for chronic motor cortex stimulation for phantom limb @entity158 were selected for their ability to voluntarily move the missing limb. The sensation of being able to move a missing limb at will occurs quite frequently among traumatic amputees, but the ability to control it sufficiently to perform a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) examination is more rarely encountered. We used motor fMRI to study these virtual movements. METHODS: In two @entity1 with upper-limb amputations, movements of the stump, the normal hand, and the missing arm were studied. In a third @entity1 with both legs amputated, movements of the stumps and of the missing feet were studied. The fMRI data were analyzed with the Statistical Parametric Map 96 software and reformatted for integration into anatomic slices. RESULTS: @entity717 of the missing limbs produced contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex and central sulcus activations in the @entity1 with @entity3140 . Interhemispheric and bilateral activations were found in the @entity1 with both legs amputated. These activation areas were different from the stump activation areas. Additionally, the significance thresholds chosen to generate the activation maps in virtual movements (although individual) were globally the same as those used to detect motor activation in the normal side of the @entity1 . CONCLUSION: Cortical areas devoted to the missing limb seem to persist for several years after amputation. The precentral activations found in our @entity1 are in agreement with the statement that the neural mechanisms involved in the mental representation of an action and in its execution are the same. Data from fMRI can be used to evaluate phantom limb virtual movements and to study cortical reorganization phenomena that can appear with time or as a result of some therapies. In these @entity1 , fMRI data may be useful in assisting the neurosurgeon in the placement of chronic motor cortex electrodes.

XXXX activate primary sensorimotor areas in amputees: report of three cases.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients', 'patient'] @entity717 :: ('MESH:D009069', 'Disease') :: ['Virtual movements'] @entity3140 :: ('MESH:D038062', 'Disease') :: ['upper-limb amputation'] @entity158 :: ('MESH:D010146', 'Disease') :: ['pain']
@entity717 :: (MESH:D009069,Disease) :: ['Virtual movements']
