THE UTILITY OF THE INTRACAROTID AMYTAL PROCEDURE IN DETERMINING HEMISPHERIC SPEECH LATERALIZATION IN PEDIATRIC EPILEPSY PATIENTS UNDERGOINGSURGERY

The usefulness of the intracarotid Amytal (amobarbital) procedure (als o called the Wada procedure) in identifying hemispheric language domin ance in pediatric patients has not been independently confirmed with i ntraoperative language mapping techniques. Currently, data are extrapo lated from adult studies. To better establish the usefulness of the in tracarotid Amytal procedure in identifying hemispheric language domina nce in pediatric patients, we reviewed the records of 77 consecutive p ediatric patients who underwent sodium amobarbital testing. Among thes e 77 subjects, 34 underwent intraoperative language mapping, the resul ts of which all completely confirmed the Amytal results. It was also s hown that among these pediatric epileptic patients who underwent Amyta l testing, there existed not only a strong correlation between left-ha ndedness and atypical speech lateralization (right, bilateral hemisphe re), but also between right-sided hemiparesis (i.e., early left-hemisp here injury) and atypical speech.