The 4D-EEG project is a cooperation between Technical University Delft and VU Medical Centre Amsterdam.
The overall goal of the project is to understand how patients recover after stroke. Why do some patients show limited recovery of the upper limb function, while others regain full functionality of their upper limb? Additionally the aim is to optimize accurate early prognosis of functional outcome after stroke.
With the 4DEEG methodology, the neuromechanical properties of upper limb control are investigated. 4DEEG determines how stroke patients modify their motor output in response to an external mechanical perturbation. This will help tailor the rehabilitation strategy to the cortical plasticity exhibited by each patient, in order to optimize recovery.
Aim of the project is to create a detailed functional image of the brain by repeatedly measuring brain activation patterns in the early period (up to 6 months) after stroke onset. This is normally the period when most recovery occurs. Currently, this is not possible with existing methods that use magnetic resonance imaging.