Infiltration of the basal ganglia by brain tumors is associated with the development of co-dominant language function on fMRI. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Studies have shown that some patients with left-hemispheric brain tumors have an increased propensity for developing right-sided language support. However, the precise trigger for establishing co-dominant language function in brain tumor patients remains unknown. We analyzed the MR scans of patients with left-hemispheric tumors and either co-dominant (n=35) or left-hemisphere dominant (n=35) language function on fMRI to investigate anatomical factors influencing hemispheric language dominance. Of eleven neuroanatomical areas evaluated for tumor involvement, the basal ganglia was significantly correlated with co-dominant language function (p<0.001). Moreover, among patients whose tumors invaded the basal ganglia, those with language co-dominance performed significantly better on the Boston Naming Test, a clinical measure of aphasia, compared to their left-lateralized counterparts (56.5 versus 36.5, p=0.025). While further studies are needed to elucidate the role of the basal ganglia in establishing co-dominance, our results suggest that reactive co-dominance may afford a behavioral advantage to patients with left-hemispheric tumors.

publication date

  • April 21, 2016

Research

keywords

  • Basal Ganglia
  • Brain Neoplasms
  • Language

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC4868667

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 84963971847

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2013.07.009

PubMed ID

  • 27108246

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 155-156