Post-stroke plastic reorganisation in the adult brain

Abstract

Recovery of function after a stroke is attributable to several factors, including events in the first few days (eg, reabsorption of perilesional oedema, tissue reperfusion). However, consistent reorganisation and recovery after a stroke takes weeks or months. In the early stages, recovery from stroke can vary greatly among patients with identical clinical symptoms. Neuroimaging techniques that enable us to assess baseline and task-related functions, and neurophysiological techniques that measure brain function in "real time", can be used to study the recovery of brain lesions after a stroke. In this review, we discuss important neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies of post-stroke brain reorganisation.