Language dominance determined by magnetic source imaging: a comparison with the Wada procedure.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the validity of data derived from magnetic source imaging (MSI) regarding cerebral dominance for language in patients with intractable seizure disorder.


METHODS
The authors performed functional imaging of the receptive language cortex using a whole-head neuromagnetometer in 26 consecutive epilepsy patients who also underwent the intracarotid amobarbital (Wada) procedure. During MSI recordings, patients engaged in a word recognition task. This task was shown previously to activate language areas in normal adults as well as in patients who undergo intraoperative language mapping, allowing confirmation of MSI findings. Language laterality indices were formed for both the Wada and the MSI procedures. In addition, clinical judgments regarding cerebral dominance for language were made using the two methods by independent raters.


RESULTS
Cluster analysis indicated excellent agreement between the quantitative MSI and Wada indices. Rater judgments showed almost complete agreement as well.


CONCLUSIONS
MSI is a promising method for determining cerebral dominance for language.
Breier
J I
JI
Department of Neurosurgery, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, USA.
Simos
P G
PG
Zouridakis
G
G
Wheless
J W
JW
Willmore
L J
LJ
Constantinou
J E
JE
Maggio
W W
WW
Papanicolaou
A C
AC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008280:Magnetics; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged