The effect and mechanism of mirror therapy in the acute stage of brain infarction

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24500601
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: KONDO Masaki 京都府立医科大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (20315964)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): NAKAGAWA Masanori 京都府立医科大学, 医学研究科, 教授 (50198040) ; TAKEZAWA Nobuo 京都府立医科大学, 医学研究科, 助教 (70405265)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: ミラーテラピー / NIRS / 脳梗塞急性期 / 可塑的修復過程

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study was planned in order to evaluate the effect of mirror therapy (MT) in patients with arm paresis in the acute stage of brain infarction. Using Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (NIRS), we measured and analyzed the brain activity during MT task in those patients. Eighteen patients with brain infarction were enrolled and divided randomly to MT group and conventional rehabilitation group. Assessment of arm paresis was performed at three points of starting rehabilitation, discharge from our hospital and after 1 year. NIRS was performed in a hospitalization period in the acute stage.
From the results of our study, the MT group did not show better improvement of arm paresis than the conventional rehabilitation group in short term and long term assessments. The brain activation during MT task was more prominent in the patients with the left arm paresis patient than those with the right paresis. The brain activity during MT task also was not associated with the prognosis of arm paresis.

Free Research Field

神経内科学