The primary motor area for voluntary diaphragmatic motion identified by high field fMRI

Abstract.

In order to identify the precise location of the primary motor area for the diaphragm with respect to the classical motor homunculus, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments were performed utilizing independent component-cross correlation- sequential epoch (ICS) analysis on a high-field (3.0 Tesla) system. Activations which correlated with voluntary diaphragmatic motion mapped onto the area anterolateral to that for voluntary hand motion (internal control in ICS analysis).Multiple subject analysis yielded the primary motor cortex for the diaphragm to be (±48, –4, 47) in the Talairach and Tournoux coordinates. The results were highly consistent with the previously reported cortical area for the diaphragm determined by transcranial electrical/magnetic stimulation.