Female, 57 years old, with intractable epilepsy, functional MRI requested for surgical planning. Sensorimotor cortical activation of the hand, foot and face maps as expected along the pre- and post-central gyri. Visual cortical stimulation maps along the calcarine sulci.All tested language paradigms produced reliable language related cortical activation. Language is overall left dominant. On two of the three paradigms (word generation and verb generation), a substantial language related activation is seen in the expected location of Wernicke's area on the right. Broca's area is identified within the left inferior frontal gyrus (pars opercularis and pars triangularis). Wernicke's area is identified (bilaterally) along the posterior aspect of the superior temporal gyrus.
1.Sensorimotor cortical activation maps as expected along the pre- and post-central gyri.2.Primary visual cortical stimulation maps along the calcarine sulci.3.Language is overall left dominant. On two of three language paradigms, however, a substantial contribution is seen from Wernicke's area on the right. The significance of this is uncertain, but it suggests the possibility that some task-specific language processing may reside in the right cerebral hemisphere. 