Electric stimulation of periventricular heterotopia: participation in higher cerebral functions

Gray matter heterotopia are a common cause of pharmacoresistant epilepsy. Recently, several case studies have addressed the question of whether heterotopia can contribute to physiological cerebral functions. We describe two cases that demonstrate a functional role for periventricular heterotopia in higher cognitive processes. During presurgical diagnostics, two patients underwent electric stimulation of both the periventricular heterotopia and the overlying cortex. This revealed a functional role of periventricular heterotopia in higher cerebral functions such as language and complex visual and acoustic processing. Furthermore, stimulation of the overlying cortex led to unusually intense positive phenomena, including complex acoustic and gustatory hallucinations and language production. These cases illustrate that periventricular heterotopic neurons can contribute to higher cerebral functions. Interestingly, the anterior-to-posterior representation of these functions is comparable to the normal anterior-to-posterior representation in a normal neocortex (similar to a periventricular "minicortex" in early developmental stages).