Evidence of cerebral reorganization following perinatal stroke demonstrated with fMRI and DTI tractography.
A 44-year-old man with a left perinatal stroke and recurrent refractory epilepsy underwent functional MRI (fMRI) for motor and language mapping to determine if further epilepsy surgery could be performed without loss of language. Language was activated excessively in the right hemisphere, with only small areas of left hemisphere activation. This suggests bilateral language dominance acquired secondary to the perinatal stroke with the right hemisphere activation resulting from neonatal neuronal reorganization. Functional data were overlaid onto 3D diffusion tensor tractography, providing a unique image of the right hemisphere language recruitment.
Heller
Samantha L
SL
Weill Cornell Medical College, United States.
Heier
Linda A
LA
Watts
Richard
R
Schwartz
Theodore H
TH
Zelenko
Natalie
N
Doyle
Werner
W
Devinsky
Orrin
O
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology*