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Updated: Jan 2, 2026
Translational Brain Mapping at the University of Rochester Medical Center: Preserving the Mind Through Personalized Brain Mapping
Published on: August 12, 2019
Preoperative evaluation by functional magnetic resonance imaging in patients with dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial
Natalia García-Casares1, Francisco Alfaro-Rubio2, José Ramón Ramos-Rodríguez2
1Departamento de Medicina, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, España; Centro de Investigaciones Médico-Sanitarias (CIMES). Universidad de Málagaa, Málaga, España; Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Málaga, España.
Introduction:
Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumours (DNET) are a type of benign glioneuronal neoplasia of typically temporal location that produce drug-resistant epileptic seizures in children and young adults.
Objective:
This work aims to assess the usefulness of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the preoperative study in four patients with DNET. A Philips Intera 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner and the Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent (BOLD) technique were used to obtain the images, making it possible to locate the eloquent areas for language and motor areas through the application of specific paradigms.
Results:
In one case the tumour was adjacent to Broca's area, in two cases it coincided with Wernicke's area, in one patient it was<1cm from the motor area for the hand and in another close to memory. Only two of the patients were operated on, without postoperative functional deficit. Hemispheric activation contralateral to the tumour suggestive of neuroplasticity was observed in one of the patients.
Conclusions:
fMRI is a non-invasive method that allows us to assess the proximity of lesions to eloquent areas, which is key in the evaluation of surgical risk. In addition, it allowed the detection of probable neuroplasticity in one case, which guaranteed the success of the surgery.
