Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · May 2014
Review Meta AnalysisCan fMRI safely replace the Wada test for preoperative assessment of language lateralisation? A meta-analysis and systematic review.
Recent studies have shown that fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) may be of value for pre-surgical assessment of language lateralisation. The aim of this study was to systematically review and analyse the available literature. A systematic electronic search for studies comparing fMRI with Wada testing was conducted in the PubMed database between March 2009 and November 2011. ⋯ Language production or language comprehension tasks and different regions of interest did not yield statistically significant different results. It can be concluded that fMRI is reliable when there is strong left-lateralised language. The Wada test is warranted when fMRI fails to show clear left-lateralisation.