Objective: Demonstrate brain perfusion changes due to neuronal activation after functional electrical stimulation (FES). Method: It was studied 14 patients with hemiplegia who were submitted to a program with FES during fourteen weeks. Brain perfusion SPECT was performed before and after FES therapy. These patients were further separated into 2 groups according to the hemiplegia cause: cranial trauma and major vascular insults. All SPECT images were analyzed using SPM. Results: There was a significant statistical difference between the two groups related to patient's ages and extent of hypoperfusion in the SPECT. Patients with cranial trauma had a reduction in the hypoperfused area and patients with major vascular insult had an increase in the hypoperfused area after FES therapy. Conclusion: FES therapy can result in brain perfusion improvement in patients with brain lesions due to cranial trauma but probably not in patients with major vascular insults with large infarct area.694682686Pandyan, A.D., Granat, M.H., Stott, D.J., Effects of electrical stimulation on flexion contractures in the hemiplegic wrist (1997) Clin Rehabil, 11, pp. 123-130Dewald, J.P., Given, J.D., Rymer, Y.Z., Long-lasting reductions of spasticity induced by skin electrical stimulation (1996) IEEE Trans Rehabil Eng, 4, pp. 231-242Glanz, M., Klawansky, S., Stanson, W., Berkey, C., Chalmers, T.C., Functional elestro-stimulation in poststroke rehabilitation: A meta-analysis of the randomized controlled trials (1996) Arch Phys Med Rehabil, 77, pp. 549-553Carmick, J., Use of neuromuscular electrical stimulation and dorsal wrist splnt to improve the hand function of a child with spastic hemiparesia (1997) Phys Ther, 77, pp. 859-869Oberg, T.D., Sovi, F.X., Cliquet Jr., A., Restoring upper limb movement to quadriplegics through microcomputer controlled NMES (1994) Phys Med Biol, 39 (SUPPL), pp. S880Kononen, M., Kuikka, J.T., Husso-Saastamoinen, M., Increased perfusion in motor areas after constraint-induced movement therapy in chronic stroke: A single-photon emission computerized tomography study (2005) J Cereb Blood Flow Metab, 25, pp. 1668-1674Amorim, B.J., Etchebehere, E.C.S.C., Camargo, E.E., Statistical voxel-wise analysis of ictal SPECT reveals pattern of abnormal perfusion in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (2005) Arq Neuropsiquiatr, 63, pp. 977-983Amorim, B.J., Ramos, C.D., Santos, A.O., Brain SPECT in temporal lobe epilepsy: Comparison between visual analysis and SPM (2010) Arq Neuropsiquiatr, 68, pp. 153-160Fugl-Meyer, A.R., Jäasko, L., Leyman, I., Olsson, S., Steglind, S., The post-stroke hemiplegic patient: A method for evaluation of physical performance (1975) Scand J Rehabil Med, 7, pp. 13-31Mahoney, F.I., Barthel, D.W., Functional evaluation: The Barthel index (1965) MD State Med J, 14, pp. 61-65Nelles, G., Spiekermann, G., Jeptner, M., Evolution of functional reorganization in hemiplegic stroke: A serial positron emission tomography activation study (1999) Ann Neurol, 46, pp. 901-909Levy, C.E., Nichols, D.S., Schmalbrock, P.M., Keller, P., Chakeres, D.W., Functional MRI evidence of cortical reorganization in upper-limb stroke hemiplegia treated with constraint-induced movement therapy (2001) Am J Phys Med Re - Habil, 80, pp. 4-12Winstein, C.J., Grafton, S.T., Pohl, P.S., Motor task difficulty and brain activity: Investigation of goal-directed reciprocal aiming using positron emission tomography (1997) J Neurophysiol, 77, pp. 1581-1594Roussini, P.M., Pauri, F., Neuromagnetic integrated methods tracking human brain mechanisms of sensorimotor areas 'plastic' reorganization (2000) Brain Res Rev, 33, pp. 131-154Richards, L.G., Stweart, K.C., Woodbury, M.L., Senesac, C., Cauraugh, J.H., Movement-dependent stroke recovery: A systematic review and meta-analysis of TMS and fMRI evidence (2008) Neuropsychologia, 46, pp. 3-11Marshall, R.S., Perera, G.M., Lazar, R.M., Krakauer, J.W., Constantine, R.C., Delapaz, R.L., Evolution of cortical activation during recovery from corticospinal tract infarction (2000) Stroke, 31, pp. 656-661Calautti, C., Leroy, F., Guincestre, J.Y., Marie, R.M., Baron, J.C., Sequential activation brain mapping after subcortical stroke;Changes in hemispheric balance and recovery (2001) Neuroreport, 12, pp. 3883-3886Chugani, H.T., Müller, R.A., Chugani, D.C., Functional brain reorganization in children (1996) Brain Dev, 18, pp. 347-356Chugani, H.T., A critical period of brain development: Studies of cerebral glucose utilization with PET (1998) Prev Med, 27, pp. 184-188