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For a number of years the Clinical Epilepsy Section has investigated functional MRI (fMRI) as an alternative to more invasive tests such as the intracarotid amobarbital test (Wada test) and electrocortical stimulation for functional mapping of language cortex in patients with intractable epilepsy being considered for surgery. fMRI also is a valuable tool for studying the effect of epilepsy on the functional anatomy of language.

The purpose of my project, entitled "Assessing language localization with synthetic aperture magnometry: comparison with fMRI and the Wada Procedure," is to investigate whether the experimental paradigms being used in fMRI (in which subjects make semantic decisions) could be successfully adapted to magnetoencephalography (MEG). Specifically, I explored the possibility of using an algorithm called synthetic aperture magnometry to localize frontal and temporal lobe language areas and to characterize cortical activation in the time/frequency domain, exploiting the exquisite temporal resolution of MEG.

My responsibilities for the project included: adapting the fMRI language paradigms to MEG; recruiting, scheduling, and scanning patients and normal volunteers; data analysis; and overall coordination. The project has been a success in that we have developed and become comfortable with procedure for localizing eloquent cortex in patients with epilepsy using MEG, both in terms of the experimental paradigm and data analysis. Initial results show strong activation on MEG in language cortex. We are now in the process of scanning patients who have had fMRI, some whom have also had Wada tests and/or electrocortical stimulation. Hopefully the MEG data will concord well with these other methods. If so, we will be able to harness the temporal resolution of MEG to explore cortical language function in ways that would not have been possible otherwise.

Last updated November 16, 2007