| Abstract: | Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is become recognised as the most sensitive and specific imaging modality for the examination of central nervous system pathology. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) contrast imaging is a non-invasive functional MRI technique for localising active neuronal brain centres. The aim of our study was to determine usefulness of fMRI in detecting hand movements cortical activity in hemisphere with brain tumour and comparison with corresponding one. Six right-handed patients with brain tumours of central sulcus area, aged 20-50 years were examined using a commercial 1.5 T scanner. All patients underwent both conventional and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations. Simple hand movements were examined separately for right and left hand at a self-paced rate. Significant increase of signal intensity was found in: a) contralateral primary motor cortex in all cases during both motor tasks, b) ipsilateral primary motor cortex, supplementary motor cortex and premotor cortex of both hemispheres in a part of the cases c) displacement of the activity in the affected hemisphere in comparison to the opposite one was noticeable depending on the localisation and size of the tumour and accompanied oedema. Usefulness of functional MRI in detecting primary motor area in patients with brain tumours was proved. There is a difference between activation in affected cortex and corresponding normal cortex in the opposite hemisphere. |
