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AJNR - American Journal of Neuroradiology

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American Journal of Neuroradiology 25:130-133, January 2004
© 2004 American Society of Neuroradiology

Case Report
BRAIN

Isolated Translocation of Wernicke’s Area to the Right Hemisphere in a 62-Year-Man with a Temporo-Parietal Glioma

Nicole M. Petrovich^a, Andrei I. Holodny^a, Cameron W. Brennan^c and Philip H. Gutin^b

^a Department of Radiology, Advanced Neuroimaging Laboratory, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
^b Department of Neurosurgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
^c Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Medical Oncology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Andrei Holodny, Department of Radiology, Advanced Neuroimaging Laboratory, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, Box 506, New York, NY 10021

Summary: We describe a case of translocation of temporo-parietal language function (Wernicke’s area) to the contralateral hemisphere in a right-handed patient with a left temporo-parietal glioma. This translocation was identified by functional MR imaging (fMRI) and validated by direct cortical stimulation during gross-total resection. The current case exemplifies how preoperative fMRI can identify unexpected language organization as a result of tumor growth, affording surgery to patients who may otherwise be deemed inoperable.