Impaired fMRI activation in patients with primary brain tumors

To characterize peritumoral BOLD contrast disorders, 25 patients referred for resection of primary frontal or parietal neoplasms (low-grade glioma (LGG) (n = 8); high-grade glioma (HGG) (n = 7); meningioma (n = 10)) without macroscopic tumoral infiltration of the primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1) were examined preoperatively using BOLD fMRI during simple motor tasks. Overall cerebral BOLD signal was estimated using vasoreactivity to carbogen inhalation. Using bolus of gadolinium, cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), and mean transit time (MTT) were estimated. In a 1 cm3 region-of-interest centered on maximal T-value in SM1 contralateral to movements, interhemispheric asymmetry was evaluated using interhemispheric ratios for BOLD and perfusion parameters. During motor tasks contralateral to the tumor, ipsitumoral sensorimotor activations were decreased in HGG and meningiomas, correlated to the distance between the tumor and SM1. Whereas CBV was decreased in ipsitumoral SM1 for HGG, it remained normal in meningiomas. Changes in basal perfusion could not explain motor activation impairment in SM1. Decreased interhemispheric ratio of the BOLD response to carbogen was the best predictor to model the asymmetry of motor activation (R = 0.51). Moreover, 94.9 ± 4.9% of all motor activations overlapped significant BOLD response to carbogen inhalation.