Successful motor mapping with transcranial magnetic stimulation in an infant: A case report

Accurate assessment of motor function is critical, particularly in the context of presurgical functional mapping. There are a few noninvasive tools available for preoperative motor mapping in older children and adults undergoing surgery for brain tumor or refractory epilepsy including fMRI, magnetoencephalography (MEG), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).1,2 However, assessing motor function is challenging in very young children. Direct cortical stimulation, a standard procedure in adults, is associated with a high incidence of intraoperative seizures, and is often unsuccessful in young children.3,4 Alternately, noninvasive motor mapping using MEG and fMRI attempted during sleep or under sedation primarily localize the somatosensory cortex from which the location of motor cortex is inferred.5,6 Furthermore, these methods have a low success rate (~25%) and have risks associated with sedation.6 However, TMS has the advantage of mapping the motor cortex directly without requiring sedation. We have previously reported on successful mapping of the motor cortex in young children aged between 17 and 35 months.7 Here we describe a case of an 11-month-old infant who is, to our knowledge, the youngest person to undergo successful presurgical motor mapping with TMS.
Source: Neurology - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: All Clinical Neurology, All Pediatric, TMS, Epilepsy surgery, Cortical localization CLINICAL/SCIENTIFIC NOTES Source Type: research