New and Noteworthy Information—August 2016

Functional brain scans may help predict recovery and guide treatment after stroke, according to a study published online ahead of print July 11 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers investigated whether functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) could provide useful information for assessing stroke damage. They used fcMRI to assess communication between brain areas in 132 patients with stroke and 31 people without stroke. The technology allowed the authors to identify large disruptions in brain communication that occurred as a result of stroke. Each participant also underwent a battery of neuropsychologic tests. Network-specific patterns of dysfunction predicted specific behavioral deficits, and loss of interhemispheric communication across a set of regions was associated with impairment across multiple behavioral domains.

—Kimberly Williams