Nonintrusive Imaging Technique Useful For Identifying Language Regions In Ki...( ions often reduces the severity of thei...),Health

In the Wada test, doctors inject a drug called amobarbital (Amytal) into an artery in the patient's neck while they are awake, which temporarily numbs half their brain. If the person loses speech as a result, the neurosurgeon knows that the active language areas are located in the numbed hemisphere. Lee said even adults who understand what the hour-long test entails have trouble undergoing the procedure. Children and adults with epilepsy, who often have mental retardation, can become uncontrollable.

"Anything that can eventually replace that test should be done," Lee said.

Because fMRI requires no injections or loss of mental functions, researchers have been investigating it as a less intrusive way to evaluate brain function. The method detects rapid changes in active brain areas, unlike traditional magnetic resonance images that highlight anatomy. But fidgeting distorts fMRI images and makes them unusable for evaluating brain function, so few studies of children had been done. Lee and his colleagues used a variety of methods to convince healthy children ages 7 to 18 to lie still for fMRI imaging. Lee wanted to evaluate healthy children before trying the fMRI imaging on those with epilespy.

The researchers rewarded the healthy children for time spent in the fMRI scanning machine with pizza parties and money and also strove to make them feel comfortable with the study process. "We took a great deal of care talking to them before the study and explaining what would happen, sometimes even doing a trial run so they knew exactly what to expect," Lee said.

The investigators also made certain the children could spell and generate words in their heads wi
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Contact: Barbra Rodriguez
rodrigub@medicine.wustl.edu
314-286-0122
Washington University in St. Louis
8-Apr-1999