fMRI of Epilepsy

This review concentrates on functional MRI (fMRI) methods to identify the epileptic focus; i.e., ictal and interictal fMRI. First, established clinical applications of fMRI in the field of epilepsy are briefly introduced: fMRI of sensorimotor, language, and memory functions can be considered already as clinically relevant tools to identify eloquent cortex and to predict postoperative functional deficits in patients considered for epilepsy surgery. Functional MRI offers a valid alternative to invasive methods such as the Wada test for establishing language dominance, and it is likely that it will also replace the Wada test for assessing presurgical memory function in the nearer future.