Introduction: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) allows important functions in the brain cortex to be mapped noninvasively. The purpose with this work was to investigate a possible correlation between the distance from the tumour margin to fMRI activity and postoperative neurological deficits by means of a standardised method for measurement of distance. A second purpose was to investigate the influence of preoperative fMRI on the neurosurgical decision-making process.
Material and methods: Retrospective study of 25 patients. The inclusion criteria were surgery or biopsy after fMRI plus a three-month postoperative assessment. A total of 14 patients complied with these requirements (six men and eight women, the mean age was 39 years). fMRI raw data was collected using a three tesla magnetic resonance scanner (Signa HDx R14M5, GE Healthcare). The distance from the tumour margin to fMRI activation was measured using GE-reformat version 4.2 after raw data had been postprocessed using GE BrainwavePA version 1.3.08130. The neurosurgeons valuation of fMRI in the preoperative decision-making process was obtained using a standard questionnaire.
Results: There was a trend of association between distance from tumour to eloquent functional areas and the patients' postoperative neurological outcome (Fisher's exact test: distance < 15 mm, p = 0.43; distance < 10 mm, p = 0.14). fMRI proved very useful when deciding whether to operate or not (42%), when deciding the surgical approach (50%) and when deciding the extent of the surgical approach (83%).
Conclusion: The standardised method for measurement of distance between tumour margin and fMRI activity can contribute to the preoperative risk assessment in patients with brain tumours.