Preoperative Sensorimotor Mapping in Brain Tumor Patients using Spontaneous Fluctuations in Neuronal Activity Imaged with fMRI: Initial Experience

Objective—To describe initial experience with resting state correlation mapping as a potential aid for presurgical planning of brain tumor resections. Methods/Technique—Resting state blood oxygenation dependent (BOLD) fMRI was acquired in seventeen healthy young adults and four patients with brain tumors invading sensorimotor cortex. Conventional fMRI motor mapping (finger tapping protocol) was also performed in the patients. Intraoperatively, motor hand area was mapped using cortical stimulation. Results—Robust and consistent delineation of sensorimotor cortex was obtained using the resting state BOLD data. Resting state functional mapping in patients showed localization to sensorimotor areas consistent with cortical stimulation mapping (CSM) and in all cases performed as well or better than task-based fMRI. Conclusions—Resting state correlation mapping is a promising tool for reliable functional localization of eloquent cortex. This method compares well with “gold standard” CSM and offers several advantages in comparison to conventional motor mapping fMRI.