Abstract

Objective: Broca's area in the left hemisphere is macro-anatomically defined by the pars opercularis and the pars triangularis of the inferior frontal gyrus, represented in cytoarchitectonic Area 44 and Area 45 respectively. Beyond speech production in general, Broca's area is supposed to be linked to differentiated functional roles in language processing. The objective of our study is to combine complementary data from functional and structural-anatomical imaging with the electrophysiological method of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in order to individually map the Broca's region within the speech network. The background idea is to identify the functionally mandatory proportions of Broca's region which is a prerequisite in neurosurgical tumor resection. In analogy to electrical brain stimulation in awake surgery, the so called “virtual lesion technique” TMS allows for inducing an acute and exhaustive reversible dysfunction without structural damage and thus directly identifies cortical areas involved in language processing. Therefore, it is an elegant method to enable for causative evidence, which vice versa complement imaging data.

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