To speak, or not to speak? The feasibility of imaging overt speech in children with epilepsy.
We systematically compared fMRI results for covert (silent) and overt (spoken) versions of a language task in a representative sample of children with lesional focal epilepsy being considered for neurosurgical treatment (N=38, aged 6-17 years). The overt task was advantageous for presurgical fMRI assessments of language; it produced higher quality scans, was more sensitive for identifying activation in core language regions on an individual basis, and provided an online measure of performance crucial for improving the yield of presurgical fMRI.
Developmental Cognitive Neurosciences Unit, Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1 N 1EH, United Kingdom; Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, Great Ormond Street, London WC1 N 3JH, United Kingdom. Electronic address: louise.croft.09@ucl.ac.uk.
L J
LJ
Croft
P M
PM
Rankin
F
F
Liégeois
T
T
Banks
J H
JH
Cross
F
F
Vargha-Khadem
T
T
Baldeweg
D000293:Adolescent; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D057234:Preoperative Period; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*
Epilepsy; Language; Neurosurgery; Speech; Surgical planning; fMRI