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(15)O water positron emission tomography in language localization: a study comparing positron emission tomography
K E Hunter1, T A Blaxton, S Y Bookheimer
1Clinical Epilepsy Section, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke, Epilepsy Research Branch, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Abstract:
We compared (15)O water positron emission tomography (PET) auditory and visual confrontational naming activation with an intracarotid amobarbital (Amytal) injection procedure (IAP) for language lateralization in 12 patients with intractable epilepsy. PET scans were evaluated by three raters experienced in functional imaging as well as by a region of interest (ROI) approach. Compared with IAP, raters' positive predictive value for language lateralization ranged from 88 to 91%. ROI analysis had a positive predictive value of 80%. Six patients had surgery; 1 with right-sided IAP language dominance but left-sided PET activation had dysphasia for 6 months after left temporal lobectomy.