ract
. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the recovery of gross motor function and cerebrovas-
cular reserve (CVR) capacity measured by brain perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in patients
with
fi
rst-ever supratentorial infarction. Gross motor function was assessed according to the locomotor and mobility subset of
the functional independence measure. The CVR was measured as the difference in the regional cerebral blood
fl
ow (rCBF)
after acetazolamide (ACZ)-challenged
99m
Tc-ECD perfusion SPECT from baseline rCBF. All 22 hemiplegic patients (mean age,
60.97 years) enrolled were admitted at a mean of 20.86 days from onset and received rehabilitation care for an average of 38.82
days. The recovery of gross motor function was signi
fi
cantly correlated with baseline rCBF and CVR of ACZ-SPECT in the areas
of affected supratentorial hemisphere (
r
=
0.447 and
r
=
0.444, respectively,
p<
0.05). Analysis of the linear regression model,
adjusted for time to SPECT testing, revealed that the CVR in the affected supratentorial hemisphere was a signi
fi
cant predictor of
the gross motor outcome (
p<
0.05). In conclusion, the CVR of the affected supratentorial hemisphere may be employed along
with other parameters to predict the gross motor recovery of patients with subacute infarction.