Changing Functional Connectivity in the Child’s Developing Brain Affected by Ischaemic Stroke

Group studies using resting state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) enable the analysis of spatial and temporal brain signal correlations, independent of a specific stimulus. Here, we assess adaptive brain plasticity in developing resting state networks after ischaemic stroke of children between 7 and 17 years. We analyse long range and short range connectivity patterns during ageing using a graph representation and corresponding measurements. The evaluation is performed using rs-fMRI data of 16 control subjects and 16 stroke patients with corresponding psychological tests. The developing functional connectivity affected by ischaemic stroke exhibits significant differences to the control cohort. This suggests an influence of regenerating plasticity on short range long range connectivity changes, degree distribution and specific brain areas over age.