Functional MRI Study of Motor Cortex

Objective To study the brain functional activation under the stimulation of self-paced finger motoring using blood oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-fMRI).Methods The functional imaging of brain cortex by BOLD technique was obtained in 34 cases(8 normal, 20 epilepsy and 6 tumor subjects) experienced self-paced finger movements in a total of 43 times.Results All subjects’ BOLD-fMRI showed regular signal intensity-time curve within local active areas. The functional imaging was feasible in all cases. The functional activation areas could be shrunk and be displaced due to the nearby mass lesion. There were no significant changes within the functional areas in primary epilepsy subjects. Conclusion BOLD-fMRI is an effective method in localizing motor cortex and it is valuable for the evaluation of mass lesion before surgery. More effective specific stimulus is needed to improve the fMRI study in epilepsy subjects.