Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Middle Frontal Gyrus Can Predict Language Lateralization in Patients...

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Neurosurgery
• Neurology

Background:

• Task-based fMRI previously showed middle frontal gyrus (MFG) comparable to Broca's area for language laterality.
• Assessing language dominance is crucial for neurosurgical planning, especially in brain tumor patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate MFG's utility as a language laterality indicator in brain tumor patients using resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI).
• To compare rs-fMRI derived language lateralization between MFG and Broca's area.
• To assess the impact of tumor grade on language lateralization.

Main Methods:

• rs-fMRI was used in 51 patients with glial neoplasms.
• Compared voxel activation and language laterality index (LLI) between MFG and Broca's area.
• LLI from rs-fMRI was compared with task-based fMRI in 40 patients.

Main Results:

• Positive correlation between voxel activations in left MFG and left Broca's area (r=0.47).
• Significant correlation between LLIs of Broca's area and MFG (r=0.56).
• 75% concordance for LLI between rs-fMRI MFG and task-based fMRI, versus 67.5% for rs-fMRI Broca's area.

Conclusions:

• MFG is a reliable indicator of language dominance using rs-fMRI, comparable to Broca's area.
• rs-fMRI of MFG is a valuable non-invasive tool for pre-surgical language mapping in glioma patients.
• rs-fMRI provides a task-free alternative for mapping eloquent cortex in patients unable to perform task-based fMRI.