Predictive factors of stress incontinence after posterior sacral rhizotomy.

AIMS: The Brindley procedure, used since the 1980s, consists of implantation of a stimulator for sacral anterior root stimulation combined with a posterior sacral rhizotomy to enable micturition. Patients suitable for the procedure are patients with detrusor overactivity and a complete spinal cord lesion with intact sacral reflexes. S2 to S4 posterior sacral rhizotomy abolishes sacral hyperreflexia and may lead to decreased urethral closure pressure and loss of reflex adaptation of continence, leading to stress incontinence. METHODS: In this retrospective study of 96 patients from Nantes or Le Mans, implanted with a Finetech-Brindley stimulator, we analyzed the incidence of stress incontinence one year after surgery and looked for predictive factors of stress incontinence one year after posterior sacral rhizotomy: age, gender, level of injury between T10 and L2 , previous urethral surgery, incompetent bladder neck, Maximum Urethral Closure Pressure before surgery less than 30 cmH2 O, compliance before surgery less than 30 ml/cmH2 0. Patients with persistent involuntary detrusor contractions with or without incontinence after surgery were excluded. RESULTS: One year after surgery, 10.4% of the patients experienced stress incontinence. Urethral closure pressure was significantly decreased by 18% after posterior sacral rhizotomy (P = 0.002). This study highlights the only significant predictive factor of stress incontinence after rhizotomy: incompetent bladder neck (P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: As screening of patients undergoing the Brindley procedure is essential to achieve optimal postoperative results, on the basis of this study, we propose preoperative assessment to select the population of patients most likely to benefit from the Brindley procedure.

Non-continent Urinary Diversion (Ileal Conduit) as Salvage Therapy in Patients With Refractory Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunctions due to Multiple Sclerosis: Results of a National Cohort From the French Association of Urology (AFU) Neurourology Committee and the French-speaking Neurourology Study Group (GENULF).

OBJECTIVE: To describe the outcomes of ileal conduit as a salvage therapy for refractory lower urinary tract dysfunctions (LUTDs) due to multiple sclerosis (MS) in a national neurourology referral center network. METHODS: A retrospective multicenter French study was carried out to identify MS patients who underwent non-continent urinary diversion for refractory LUTDs from January 2010 to December 2015. Multiple sclerosis status, urological history, surgical indication and technique, postoperative complications, renal anatomy and function at last follow-up as well as number of rehospitalizations for urinary tract infections (UTI) were collected. Preoperative and postoperative urinary-related quality of life (urQoL) through the Qualiveen short-form questionnaire (QSF) and patient global impression of improvement (PGI-I) were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Overall, 10 centers identified 211 patients with a mean age of 54±11 and mean preoperative EDSS (expanded disability status scale) score of 7.3±0.9. The main indication for diversion was MS progression leading to impossible intermittent self-catheterization (55%). Cystectomy was performed either by open (34.6%), laparoscopic (39.3%) or robotic (21.8%) approach (unknown: 4.2%) with cystectomy in all cases. Early complications were reported in 42% of the patients, mainly Clavien I or II grades. There was no difference in GFR (glomerular filtration rate) after surgery. After diversion, patients had fewer hospitalizations for UTI and better urQoL on QSF confirmed by evaluation of PGI-I. CONCLUSION: This study, reporting the largest series of ileal conduit in selected MS patients with end-stage LUTDs, showed significant improvement in symptomatic UTI and quality of life with a low high-grade complication rate.

(Re)organisation of the somatosensory system after early brain lesion: A lateralization index fMRI study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationship between neural (re)organization of the somatosensory cortex and impairment of sensory function (2-point discrimination [2PD]) in individuals with unilateral cerebral palsy. METHODS: We included 21 individuals with unilateral cerebral palsy. 2PD thresholds were evaluated on thumb pads, and activation of the somatosensory cortex was recorded by functional MRI (fMRI) during passive movements of the affected hand. A lateralization index (LI) was calculated for the primary sensory (S1) and secondary sensory (S2) cortices and the correlation between the LI and 2PD thresholds was analysed. RESULTS: We found a significant negative correlation between the 2PD thresholds and the S2 LI (r=-0.5, one-tailed P-value=0.01) and a trend towards a negative correlation with the S1 LI (r=-0.4, one-tailed P-value=0.05). CONCLUSION: High levels of activation in the contralesional hemisphere were associated with high levels of sensory impairment in individuals with unilateral cerebral palsy. The interhemispheric (re)organization of the somatosensory system may not effectively compensate for somatosensory impairment.

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging versus task-based activity for language mapping and correlation with perioperative cortical mapping.

INTRODUCTION: Preoperative language mapping using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) aims to identify eloquent areas in the vicinity of surgically resectable brain lesions. fMRI methodology relies on the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) analysis to identify brain language areas. Task-based fMRI studies the BOLD signal increase in brain areas during a language task to identify brain language areas, which requires patients' cooperation, whereas resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) allows identification of functional networks without performing any explicit task through the analysis of the synchronicity of spontaneous BOLD signal oscillation between brain areas. The aim of this study was to compare preoperative language mapping using rsfMRI and task fMRI to cortical mapping (CM) during awake craniotomies. METHODS: Fifty adult patients surgically treated for a brain lesion were enrolled. All patients had a presurgical language mapping with both task fMRI and rsfMRI. Identified language networks were compared to perioperative language mapping using electric cortical stimulation. RESULTS: Resting-state fMRI was able to detect brain language areas during CM with a sensitivity of 100% compared to 65.6% with task fMRI. However, we were not able to perform a specificity analysis and compare task-based and rest fMRI with our perioperative setting in the current study. In second-order analysis, task fMRI imaging included main nodes of the SN and main areas involved in semantics were identified in rsfMRI. CONCLUSION: Resting-state fMRI for presurgical language mapping is easy to implement, allowing the identification of functional brain language network with a greater sensitivity than task-based fMRI, at the cost of some precautions and a lower specificity. Further study is required to compare both the sensitivity and the specificity of the two methods and to evaluate the clinical value of rsfMRI as an alternative tool for the presurgical identification of brain language areas.

Relationship between somatosensory deficit and brain somatosensory system after early brain lesion: A morphometric study.

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a group of permanent motor disorders due to non-progressive damage to the developing brain. Poor tactile discrimination is common in children with unilateral CP. Previous findings suggest the crucial role of structural integrity of the primary (S1) and secondary (S2) somatosensory areas located in the ipsilesional hemisphere for somatosensory function processing. However, no focus on the relationship between structural characteristics of ipsilesional S1 and S2 and tactile discrimination function in paretic hands has been proposed. Using structural MRI and a two-point discrimination assessment (2 PD), we explore this potential link in a group of 21 children (mean age 13 years and 7 months) with unilateral CP secondary to a periventricular white matter injury (PWMI) or middle cerebral artery infarct (MCA). For our whole sample there was a significant negative correlation between the 2 PD and the gray matter volume in the ipsilesional S2 (rho = -0.50 95% confidence interval [-0.76, -0.08], one-tailed p-value = 0.0109) and in the ipsilesional S1 (rho = -0.57, 95% confidence interval [-0.81, -0.19], one-tailed p-value = 0.0032). When studying these relationships with regard to the lesion types, we found these correlations were non-significant in the patients with PWMI but stronger in patients with MCA. According to our results, the degree of sensory impairment is related to the spared gray matter volume in ipsilesional S1 and S2 and is marked after an MCA stroke. Our work contributes to a better understanding of why some patients with CP have variable somatosensory deficit following an early brain lesion.

Hemispheric Asymmetry of Supplementary Motor Area Proper: A Functional Connectivity Study of the Motor Network.

Cerebral asymmetry is a common feature of human functions. However, there are discrepancies in the literature about functional hemispheric asymmetries in the supplementary motor area (SMA), specifically in the posterior part (SMA-proper). We used resting state functional connectivity MRI to investigate the left-right asymmetries of the functional networks associated with primary motor cortex (M1) and SMA-proper using a "seed"-based correlation analysis in 30 healthy right-handed subjects. We showed that left M1 was more connected with areas involved in the motor system than right M1, and that right SMA-proper had more functional connections than its left counterpart. Our results are in agreement with a leftward asymmetry for M1 connectivity, whereas there is a rightward asymmetry of the SMA-proper connectivity.

Effect of motor imagery in children with unilateral cerebral palsy: fMRI study.

BACKGROUND: Motor imagery is considered as a promising therapeutic tool for rehabilitation of motor planning problems in patients with cerebral palsy. However motor planning problems may lead to poor motor imagery ability. AIM: The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to examine and compare brain activation following motor imagery tasks in patients with hemiplegic cerebral palsy with left or right early brain lesions. We tested also the influence of the side of imagined hand movement. METHOD: Twenty patients with clinical hemiplegic cerebral palsy (sixteen males, mean age 12 years and 10 months, aged 6 years 10 months to 20 years 10 months) participated in this study. Using block design, brain activations following motor imagery of a simple opening-closing hand movement performed by either the paretic or nonparetic hand was examined. RESULTS: During motor imagery tasks, patients with early right brain damages activated bilateral fronto-parietal network that comprise most of the nodes of the network well described in healthy subjects. Inversely, in patients with left early brain lesion brain activation following motor imagery tasks was reduced, compared to patients with right brain lesions. We found also a weak influence of the side of imagined hand movement. CONCLUSION: Decreased activations following motor imagery in patients with right unilateral cerebral palsy highlight the dominance of the left hemisphere during motor imagery tasks. This study gives neuronal substrate to propose motor imagery tasks in unilateral cerebral palsy rehabilitation at least for patients with right brain lesions.

The effect of video-guidance on passive movement in patients with cerebral palsy: fMRI study.

In patients with cerebral palsy (CP), neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that passive movement and action-observation tasks have in common to share neuronal activation in all or part of areas involved in motor system. Action observation with simultaneous congruent passive movements may have additional effects in the recruitment of brain motor areas. The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to examine brain activation in patients with unilateral CP during passive movement with and without simultaneous observation of simple hand movement. Eighteen patients with unilateral CP (fourteen male, mean age 14 years and 2 months) participated in the study. Using fMRI block design, brain activation following passive simple opening-closing hand movement of either the paretic or nonparetic hand with and without simultaneous observation of a similar movement performed by either the left or right hand of an actor was compared. Passive movement of the paretic hand performed simultaneously to the observation of congruent movement activated more "higher motor areas" including contralesional pre-supplementary motor area, superior frontal gyrus (extending to premotor cortex), and superior and inferior parietal regions than nonvideo-guided passive movement of the paretic hand. Passive movement of the paretic hand recruited more ipsilesional sensorimotor areas compared to passive movement of the nonparetic hand. Our study showed that the combination of observation of congruent hand movement simultaneously to passive movement of the paretic hand recruits more motor areas, giving neuronal substrate to propose video-guided passive movement of paretic hand in CP rehabilitation.

Effect of observation of simple hand movement on brain activations in patients with unilateral cerebral palsy: an fMRI study.

The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to examine and compare brain activation in patients with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP) during observation of simple hand movement performed by the paretic and nonparetic hand. Nineteen patients with clinical unilateral CP (14 male, mean age 14 years, 7-21 years) participated in the study. Hand motor impairment was assessed using the sequential finger opposition task. Using fMRI block design, brain activation was examined following observation at rest of a simple opening-closing hand movement, performed by either the left or right hand of an actor. Eighteen fMRI dataset were analyzed. Observing hand movement produced large bilateral activations in temporo-parieto-fronto-occipital network, comprising most of the nodes of the well described action-observation network. For either side, observing hand movements recruits the primary motor cortex (M1), contralateral to the viewed hand, as would be expected in healthy persons. Viewing movement performed by an actor's hand representing the paretic side of patients activated more strongly ipsilesional M1 than viewing movement performed by an actor's hand representing the nonparetic side of patients. Observation of hand movement in patients with CP engaged the motor execution network regardless of the degree of motor impairment.