Functional electrical stimulation improves brain perfusion in cranial trauma patients.

OBJECTIVE Demonstrate brain perfusion changes due to neuronal activation after functional electrical stimulation (FES). METHOD It was studied 14 patients with hemiplegia who were submitted to a program with FES during fourteen weeks. Brain perfusion SPECT was performed before and after FES therapy. These patients were further separated into 2 groups according to the hemiplegia cause: cranial trauma and major vascular insults. All SPECT images were analyzed using SPM. RESULTS There was a significant statistical difference between the two groups related to patient's ages and extent of hypoperfusion in the SPECT. Patients with cranial trauma had a reduction in the hypoperfused area and patients with major vascular insult had an increase in the hypoperfused area after FES therapy. CONCLUSION FES therapy can result in brain perfusion improvement in patients with brain lesions due to cranial trauma but probably not in patients with major vascular insults with large infarct area.