HIgh-Resolution Functional Connectivity Mapping of Eloquent Cortex Networks in Surgical Epilepsy Patients at 7T

Steven M. Stufflebeam¹, Naoro Tanaka¹, Boris Keil¹, Linda Douw¹, Lawrence L. Wald¹, Christina Triantafyllou¹

We acquired resting-state BOLD fMRI at 7T MRI in six patients with medically refractory partial epilepsy and identified 3 clinically relevant resting-state networks: default mode, motor, and language networks. The laterality of these networks was calculated by computing a laterality index based on the left and right hemisphere correlation maps. We localized all networks and found that the language network was left lateralized, as was the default mode network in a subject with temporal lobe epilepsy. This suggests that, even at an individual subject level, 7T task-free BOLD fMRI localizes and lateralizes eloquent cortex that is critical for presurgical mapping. including motor, language and memory tasks performed.