Longitudinal fMRI studies: Exploring brain plasticity and repair in MS

Ask your doctor to 'Explore brain plasticity and repair in stroke', because our fucking failures of stroke associations have not publicly done anything about this. You're going to need this to recover and if no one can explain how it specifically works then you are going to have a hard time accomplishing that recovery. Unless you are rich and can hire researchers to figure out neuroplasticity.
http://msj.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/12/17/1352458515619781.abstract?&

1. Christian Enzinger⇑
   1. Department of Neurology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria/Division of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
2. Daniela Pinter
   1. Department of Neurology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
3. Maria A Rocca
   1. Neuroimaging Research Unit and Department of Neurology, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy
4. John De Luca
   1. Kessler Foundation, West Orange, NJ, USA; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA
5. Jaume Sastre-Garriga
   1. Department of Neurology-Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia (Cemcat), Edifici Cemcat, Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
6. Bertrand Audoin
   1. Aix-Marseille University, National Center for Scientific Research, Center for Magnetic Resonance in Biology and Medicine UMR 7339; Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurosciences, Timone University Hospital, Marseille, France
7. Massimo Filippi
   1. Neuroimaging Research Unit and Department of Neurology, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy

Department of Neurology, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 22, A-8036 Graz, Austria. chris.enzinger@medunigraz.at

Abstract

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has greatly advanced our understanding of cerebral functional changes occurring in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, most of our knowledge regarding brain plasticity and repair in MS as evidenced by fMRI has been extrapolated from cross-sectional studies across different phenotypes of the disease. This topical review provides an overview of this research, but also highlights limitations of existing fMRI studies with cross-sectional design. We then review the few existing longitudinal fMRI studies and discuss the feasibility and constraints of serial fMRI in individuals with MS. We further emphasize the potential to track fMRI changes in evolving disease and the insights this may give in terms of mechanisms of adaptation and repair, focusing on serial fMRI to monitor response to disease-modifying therapies or rehabilitation interventions. Finally, we offer recommendations for designing future research studies to overcome previous methodological shortcomings.