MULTIMODALITY MAPPING OF MOTOR CORTEX - COMPARING ECHOPLANAR BOLD FMRI AND TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION

Multiple non-invasive methods of imaging brain function are now availa ble for presurgical planning and neurobiological research. As these ne w methods become available, it is important to understand their relati ve advantages and liabilities, as well as how the information gained c ompares across different methods. A current and future trend in neurob iological studies as well as presurgical planning is to combine inform ation from different imaging techniques. Multi-modal integration may p erhaps give more powerful information than each modality alone, especi ally when one of the methods is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS ), with its ability to non-invasively activate the brain. As an initia l venture in cross comparing new imaging methods, we performed the fol lowing 2 studies, locating motor cortex with echoplanar BOLD fMRI and TMS. The two methods can be readily integrated, with concurring result s, although each have important limitations.