Language mapping in healthy volunteers and brain tumor patients with a novel navigated TMS system: Evidence of tumor-induced plasticity

J. Rösler, B. Niraula, V. Strack, A. Zdunczyk, S. Schilt, Petri Savolainen, P. Lioumis, J. Mäkelä, P. Vajkoczy, D. Frey, T. Picht*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

106 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective: This article explores the feasibility of a novel repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rnTMS) system and compares language mapping results obtained by rnTMS in healthy volunteers and brain tumor patients. Methods: Fifteen right-handed healthy volunteers and 50 right-handed consecutive patients with left-sided gliomas were examined with a picture-naming task combined with time-locked rnTMS (5-10. Hz and 80-120% resting motor threshold) applied over both hemispheres. Induced errors were classified into four psycholinguistic types and assigned to their respective cortical areas according to the coil position during stimulation. Results: In healthy volunteers, language disturbances were almost exclusively induced in the left hemisphere. In patients errors were more frequent and induced at a comparative rate over both hemispheres. Predominantly dysarthric errors were induced in volunteers, whereas semantic errors were most frequent in the patient group. Conclusion: The right hemisphere's increased sensitivity to rnTMS suggests reorganization in language representation in brain tumor patients. Significance: rnTMS is a novel technology for exploring cortical language representation. This study proves the feasibility and safety of rnTMS in patients with brain tumor.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)526-536
Number of pages11
JournalClinical Neurophysiology
Volume125
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2014
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • Brain tumors
  • Hemispheric dominance
  • Language mapping
  • Language plasticity
  • Transcranial magnetic stimulation

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