Rapid and Minimum Invasive Functional Brain Mapping by Real-Time Visualization of High Gamma Activity During Awake Craniotomy

BACKGROUND: Electrocortical stimulation (ECS) is the gold standard for functional brain mapping during an awake craniotomy. The critical issue is to set aside enough time to identify eloquent cortices by ECS. High gamma activity (HGA) ranging between 80 and 120 Hz on electrocorticogram is assumed to reflect localized cortical processing. In this report, we used real-time HGA mapping and functional neuronavigation integrated with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for rapid and reliable identification of motor and language functions. METHODS: Four patients with intra-axial tumors in their dominant hemisphere underwent preoperative fMRI and lesion resection with an awake craniotomy. All patients showed significant fMRI activation evoked by motor and language tasks. During the craniotomy, we recorded electrocorticogram activity by placing subdural grids directly on the exposed brain surface. RESULTS: Each patient performed motor and language tasks and demonstrated real-time HGA dynamics in hand motor areas and parts of the inferior frontal gyrus. Sensitivity and specificity of HGA mapping were 100% compared with ECS mapping in the frontal lobe, which suggested HGA mapping precisely indicated eloquent cortices. We found different HGA dynamics of language tasks in frontal and temporal regions. Specificities of the motor and language-fMRI did not reach 85%. The results of HGA mapping was mostly consistent with those of ECS mapping, although fMRI tended to overestimate functional areas. CONCLUSIONS: This novel technique enables rapid and accurate identification of motor and frontal language areas. Furthermore, real-time HGA mapping sheds light on underlying physiological mechanisms related to human brain functions.