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AJNR - American Journal of Neuroradiology

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American Journal of Neuroradiology 20:1520-1526 (9 1999)
© 1999 American Society of Neuroradiology

ARTICLE

Lateralization of Cortical Function in Swallowing: A Functional MR Imaging Study

Kristine M. Mosier^,a, Wen-Ching Liu^a, Joseph A. Maldjian^a, Rasesh Shah^a and Bijal Modi^a

^a From the Department of Oral Pathology Biology and Diagnostic Sciences, New Jersey Dental School (K.M.M.), the Department of Radiology, New Jersey Medical School (K.M.M., W-C.L.), and the New Jersey Medical School (R.S., B.M.), University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; and the Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (J.A.M.).

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: While functional MR imaging and other techniques have contributed to our knowledge of functional brain localization, these methods have not been extensively applied to the complex and incompletely understood task of swallowing. We used functional MR imaging to investigate motor cortex activity during swallowing in healthy human adults.

METHODS: Eight subjects were imaged on a 1.5-T MR system using blood oxygen level–dependent contrast mechanisms. Subjects performed three swallowing tasks and a finger-tapping task. Areas of activation in the cortex and subcortical areas were tabulated, and a laterality index, defined as LI = [s left - s right]/[s left + s right] x 100, was computed for the three tasks.

RESULTS: Activation was observed in the primary motor and sensory cortices, motor processing and association areas, and subcortical sites. This activity was dominant for one hemisphere with left hemispheric dominance more prevalent among the subjects. Right hemispheric dominance, however, showed stronger lateralization than the left hemisphere.

CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that specific sites in the motor cortex and other cortical and subcortical areas are activated with swallowing tasks and that hemispheric dominance is a feature of swallowing under these conditions. In addition, we demonstrate the utility of functional MR imaging in the study of the cortical representation of swallowing and suggest a role for functional MR imaging in the diagnosis of dysphagia of cerebral origin.

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