Validation of On-Head OPM MEG for Language Laterality Assessment

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Biophysics
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Pre-surgical language mapping is crucial for epilepsy patients.
• Traditional magnetoencephalography (MEG) has limited availability.
• Optically pumped magnetometer (OPM) systems offer potential improvements over traditional MEG.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate a novel on-head OPM MEG procedure for lateralizing language processes.
• To assess the feasibility of OPM MEG for pre-surgical language mapping.

Main Methods:

• Collected OPM MEG recordings from 19 healthy, right-handed controls during an auditory word recognition task.
• Utilized a soft cap with flexible sensor placement for OPM system.
• Applied Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to assess hemispheric laterality of evoked fields.

Main Results:

• PCA of the grand average language response showed left-hemisphere lateralization.
• All participants exhibited evoked topographies consistent with left-lateralized responses.
• Results align with expected language lateralization in healthy right-handed individuals.

Conclusions:

• Language-related evoked fields can be detected using on-head OPM MEG.
• This method demonstrates potential for pre-surgical language function mapping in epilepsy patients.
• Further validation in patient populations is warranted.