Essential language function of the right hemisphere in brain tumor patients

• Published in: Annals of neurology 2005-01, Vol.57 (1), p.128-131
• Main Authors: Thiel, Alexander, Habedank, Birgit, Winhuisen, Lutz, Herholz, Karl, Kessler, Josef, Haupt, Walter F., Heiss, Wolf-Dieter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Mapping; Brain Neoplasms - physiopathology; Dominance, Cerebral - physiology; Electric Stimulation - methods; Female; Frontal Lobe - physiopathology; Frontal Lobe - radiation effects; Humans; Injuries of the nervous system and the skull. Diseases due to physical agents; Language; Magnetics; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Multiple sclerosis and variants. Guillain barré syndrome and other inflammatory polyneuropathies. Leukoencephalitis; Neurology; Reaction Time - radiation effects; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents; Verbal Behavior - physiology; Verbal Behavior - radiation effects
• ISSN: 0364-5134; 1531-8249
• DOI: 10.1002/ana.20342

Neuroimaging studies of language networks in patients with brain lesions of the left language‐dominant hemisphere have shown activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). We tested the functional relevance of right IFG activation using neuroimaging‐guided repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to disturb language function over bilateral IFG in right‐handed patients with brain tumors and controls. All subjects were susceptible to TMS over the left IFG. In patients, this susceptibility correlated with left‐sided the degree of language lateralization to the left. Those patients with lowest dominance were also susceptible to right‐sided TMS proving relevant language function of the right IFG. Ann Neurol 2005;57:128–131