Health Tips - Brain Mapping

Brain Mapping

1)Brain mapping is actually a series of procedures that I perform. They consist of neurocognitive mapping, which is neuropsychological assessment. It also includes the sodium amobarbital procedure, which is called the Wada, and one that I do in this room here. It also includes cortical brain mapping, which we can do in here but typically is done in the OR. The third type of brain mapping is functional MRI. It's different than the structural MRIs that we also perform here.

2)Brain mapping, when taken together with all those procedures, really helps me determine which part of the brain does which function. That's most important for complex clinical cases. Typically, they're done for surgical cases.

3)Brain mapping is used most frequently with our neuro oncology cases, our epilepsy cases, as well as our movement disorders cases, patients who are considered for deep brain stimulation. When, in general, you're talking about neurosurgery, you want to make sure that any parts of the brain that can be affected by the surgery have a minimal chance of being affected. Brain mapping is the way to do that.

Highly Specialized

4)Brain mapping is not widely available. In fact, we are the first brain mapping center in the Midwest here at the Clinical Neuroscience Institute. The reason why is that there are about 50 hospitals in the US who have adequate brain mapping resources.

5)That means that our providers are specially trained to conduct all four of those procedures that we discussed earlier, but to take it a step further too by integrating care in different ways.

6)The areas that benefit most from brain mapping are the surgical populations. That includes our neuro oncology cases with brain tumor cases, our epilepsy cases, as well as our movement disorders cases. Those patients are typically referred for deep brain stimulation. Any area of, or any population for, that's going to consider surgery should have brain mapping conducted. Especially at a comprehensive center, like the one at Premier Health.

7)Brain mapping has helped a variety of patients with different neurological conditions. For example, with brain tumors, which is one of the most common populations I work with for mapping, you tend to see a lot of cerebral disorganization. What that means is typical brain structures no longer live where they used to or where they're supposed to. Those functions often get altered in the course of a growing brain tumor. My job is to determine what part of the brain does what function and how it functions now in the presence of this tumor. What I do is make sure that once the tumor is removed, minimal effect will occur. There will be minimal side effects, and the patient can really regain that sense of structure, that sense of life and getting back to their baseline faster. It's an involved process, but one that helps ensure that patients live the most maximal life possible.