Magnetoencephalography in presurgical epilepsy diagnosis

Abstract

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a functional modality to register magnetic brain activity with high spatiotemporal resolution. Since distortion of magnetic fields by the skin, skull and cerebrospinal fluids is negligible, the technique offers an almost undistorted view on brain activity. While MEG systems are still expensive and complex, the technique’s characteristics offer promising possibilities for the investigation of epilepsy patients, for example, for focus localization and presurgical functional mapping. This review gives an overview of the method and discusses advantages and limitations in the clinical context of presurgical epilepsy diagnosis.

Keywords::

• epilepsy
• epilepsy surgery
• focus localization
• functional mapping
• magnetoencephalography
• presurgical work-up