Functional MRI study of verbal fluency in a patient with subcortical laminar heterotopia.
BACKGROUND
Double cortex syndrome is a malformation in which there is a band of subcortical heterotopic grey matter separated from the cortex by white matter. The functional activity of the heterotopic neurons is unclear.


METHODS
A 13-year-old female was evaluated for seizures. The EEG showed bifrontal spike wave disturbance. Band heterotopia, in association with mild reduction of sulcation of the cerebral hemispheres, was found on MRI. Psychological assessment indicated the presence of variable cognitive abilities, with verbal IQ [82] generally better than nonverbal IQ [59], and specific difficulties in language comprehension and mathematics.


METHODS
Functional MRI was used to localize the areas of language and motor activation. The language activation paradigm was a visual verb generation task with a visual fixation baseline. The motor paradigm consisted of alternating blocks of sequential finger tapping and rest. Coronal functional and anatomical images were obtained.


RESULTS
The motor paradigm produced activation of the primary motor cortex, the band heterotopia and the supplementary motor cortex. The language paradigm produced activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus and left supplementary motor area, but not of the band heterotopia.


CONCLUSIONS
The activation of heterotopic grey matter during a motor task demonstrates a hemodynamic association with motor activity and suggests that this tissue may be functional. Such association was not seen with the language task. We speculate that later maturing functions such as language are restricted in their development to the normal situated superficial cortex in our patient.
Keene
Daniel L
DL
Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Olds
Janet
J
Logan
William J
WJ
D000293:Adolescent; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000002:abnormalities*; D002828:Choristoma / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000209:etiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009048:Motor Skills; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D014705:Verbal Behavior