Quantitative comparison of functional MRI and direct electrocortical stimulation for functional mapping

Mapping functional areas of the brain is important for planning tumour resections. With the increased use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for presurgical planning, there is a need to validate that fMRI activation mapping is consistent with the mapping obtained during surgery using direct electrocortical stimulation (DECS).

A quantitative comparison of DECS and fMRI mapping techniques was performed, using a patient-specific conductivity model to find the current distribution resulting from each stimulation site. The resulting DECS stimulation map was compared to the fMRI activation map, using the maximal Dice similarity coefficient (MDSC).

Our results show some agreement between these two mapping techniques--the stimulation site with the largest MOSC was the only site that demonstrated intra-operative effect.

There is a substantial effort to improve the techniques used to map functional areas, particularly using fMRI. It seems likely that fMRI will eventually provide a valid non-invasive means for functional mapping.