The quality of functional MR images in patients with brain tumors: influences of neurological disorders and tumor location

The aim of our study was to investigate the influence of neurological disor ders, and the influence of tumor and perifocal edema location on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) quality. fMRI quality tended to be bette r the closer the tumor and the perifocal edema were located to the pmc, Hem ipareses and seizures had no significant influence on fMRI quality. Therefo re, hemiparetic patients do not have to be excluded beforehand. The evaluat ion of time courses is essential before using z-maps to localize eloquent b rain regions preoperatively. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights rese rved.