Lin Jianeng, Jin Shuxiao, You Yugen, Liu Jinrui, Lu Jiewei, Shu Zhilin, Feng Yuxin, Zhang Yaru, Xiao Hui, Zhang Ying, Wang Jing, Zhao Xintong, Wang Chunfang, Han Jianda, Yu Ningbo
IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2025 Jun 18;PP. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2025.3580943.
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an effective non-invasive neuromodulation technique promoting motor function recovery in stroke patients. Our study aimed to reveal the functional neural reorganization of rTMS with motor training in stroke from a comprehensive multimodal perspective.
This study proposed a novel EEG-fNIRS multilayer brain network analysis method to investigate the hemisphere activation and neuroplasticity changes and conducted clinical study. Specifically, the EEG-fNIRS signals were first reconstructed and aligned in the unified cortical source space. Then, the neurovascular coupling strength was quantified by subject-specific estimation of the hemodynamic response function and utilized to build the interlayer edges. Subsequently, the unimodal intra-layer edge and bimodal inter-layer edge were combined to construct the multilayer brain network, of which features were extracted. 27 stroke patients and 13 healthy controls were recruited in the clinical experiment.
We found that the rTMS group showed significant improvement in the neurovascular coupling levels and multiplex clustering coefficients compared with the sham group. Moreover, these neural changes were significantly correlated with the motor function improvements (R = 0.600 and 0.618). The proposed method reduces the prediction error for rehabilitation outcomes by an average of 20.36% compared to unimodal approaches.
The results indicated that our method effectively reveals the functional neural reorganization of rTMS with motor training in stroke.
This work provides a novel method to empower neuroelectric-hemodynamic analysis and a unique insight into the mechanisms of stroke recovery and the therapeutic potential of rTMS in combination with motor training.
重复经颅磁刺激（rTMS）是一种有效的非侵入性神经调节技术，可促进中风患者运动功能恢复。我们的研究旨在从综合多模态角度揭示rTMS联合运动训练在中风中的功能性神经重组。
本研究提出一种新颖的脑电图-功能近红外光谱（EEG-fNIRS）多层脑网络分析方法，以研究半球激活和神经可塑性变化，并开展了临床研究。具体而言，首先在统一的皮质源空间中重建并对齐EEG-fNIRS信号。然后，通过对血流动力学响应函数进行个体特异性估计来量化神经血管耦合强度，并利用该强度构建层间边。随后，将单模态层内边和双模态层间边相结合，构建多层脑网络，并提取其特征。27名中风患者和13名健康对照者参与了临床实验。
我们发现，与假刺激组相比，rTMS组的神经血管耦合水平和多重聚类系数有显著改善。此外，这些神经变化与运动功能改善显著相关（R = 0.600和0.618）。与单模态方法相比，所提出的方法将康复结果的预测误差平均降低了20.36%。
结果表明，我们的方法有效地揭示了rTMS联合运动训练在中风中的功能性神经重组。
这项工作提供了一种新方法，可增强神经电-血流动力学分析能力，并为中风恢复机制以及rTMS联合运动训练的治疗潜力提供独特见解。
