Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34665133›Full record

ArticleeLife2021

Finger somatotopy is preserved after tetraplegia but deteriorates over time.

Sanne Kikkert, Dario Pfyffer, Michaela Verling, Patrick Freund, Nicole Wenderoth

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
4.4field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Distinct Neural Modes Carry Information About Attempted Grasp Timing and Force in the Sensorimotor Cortex.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Article
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  7. TMS-Based Neurofeedback Training of Mental Finger Individuation Induces Neuroplastic Changes in the Sensorimotor System.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
    Article
  8. Article
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  11. Article
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  15. The speech neuroprosthesis.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2024
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Sanne KikkertNeural Control of Movement Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-9952-4864
Dario PfyfferSpinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0002-2406-9251
Michaela VerlingNeural Control of Movement Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Patrick FreundSpinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0002-4851-2246
Nicole WenderothNeural Control of Movement Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0002-3246-9386
ETH Zurich · CHUniversity of Zurich · CHWellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Previous studies showed reorganised and/or altered activity in the primary sensorimotor cortex after a spinal cord injury (SCI), suggested to reflect abnormal processing. However, little is known about whether somatotopically specific representations can be activated despite reduced or absent afferent hand inputs. In this observational study, we used functional MRI and a (attempted) finger movement task in tetraplegic patients to characterise the somatotopic hand layout in primary somatosensory cortex. We further used structural MRI to assess spared spinal tissue bridges. We found that somatotopic hand representations can be activated through attempted finger movements in the absence of sensory and motor hand functioning, and no spared spinal tissue bridges. Such preserved hand somatotopy could be exploited by rehabilitation approaches that aim to establish new hand-brain functional connections after SCI (e.g. neuroprosthetics). However, over years since SCI the hand representation somatotopy deteriorated, suggesting that somatotopic hand representations are more easily targeted within the first years after SCI.

Indexed as

MovementAdultAgedBrain MappingFemaleFingersHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMiddle AgedQuadriplegiaSomatosensory Cortexfunctional MRIhandhumanneuroscienceplasticitysomatotopyspinal cord injurytetraplegia

Identifiers

PMID34665133
PMCPMC8575460
OpenAlexW3206792016

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.