Brain network topology early after stroke relates to recovery.

Analyses of alterations of brain networks have gained an increasing interest in stroke rehabilitation research. Compared with functional networks derived from resting-state analyses, there is limited knowledge of how structural network topology might undergo changes after stroke and, more importantly, if structural network information obtained early after stroke could enhance recovery models to infer later outcomes. The present work re-analysed cross-sectional structural imaging data, obtained within the first 2 weeks, of 45 acute stroke patients (22 females, 24 right-sided strokes, age 68 ± 13 years). Whole-brain tractography was performed to reconstruct structural connectomes and graph-theoretical analyses were employed to quantify global network organization with a focus on parameters of network integration and modular processing. Graph measures were compared between stroke patients and 34 healthy controls (15 females, aged 69 ± 10 years) and they were integrated with four clinical scores of the late subacute stage, covering neurological symptom burden (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale), global disability (modified Rankin Scale), activity-related disability (Barthel Index) and motor functions (Upper-Extremity Score of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment). The analyses were employed across the complete cohort and, based on clustering analysis, separately within subgroups stratified in mild to moderate (

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© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain.