• R Paetau, J Saraneva, O Salonen, L Valanne, J Ignatius, and S Salenius.
• Brain Research Unit, Low Temperature Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland. ritva.paetau@hus.fi
• J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. 2004 May 1; 75 (5): 717-22.

BackgroundCongenital bilateral perisylvian syndrome (CBPS) is characterised by bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria and suprabulbar paresis. Mild tetraparesis, cognitive impairment, and epilepsy are frequently associated. Sensory deficits are surprisingly rare, even though polymicrogyria often extends to auditory and sensorimotor cortex.ObjectivesTo study the sensorimotor and auditory cortex function and location in CBPS patients.MethodsWe mapped the sensory and motor cortex function onto brain magnetic resonance images in six CBPS patients and seven control subjects using sources of somatosensory and auditory evoked magnetic fields, and of rhythmic magnetoencephalographic (MEG) activity phase-locked to surface electromyogram (EMG) during voluntary hand muscle contraction.ResultsMEG-EMG coherence in CBPS patients varied from normal (if normal central sulcus anatomy) to absent, and could occur at abnormally low frequency. Coherent MEG activity was generated at the central sulcus or in the polymicrogyric frontoparietal cortex. Somatosensory and auditory evoked responses were preserved and also originated within the polymicrogyric cortex, but the locations of some source components could be grossly shifted.ConclusionPlastic changes of sensory and motor cortex location suggest disturbed cortex organisation in CBPS patients. Because the polymicrogyric cortex of CBPS patients may embed normal functions in unexpected locations, functional mapping should be considered before brain surgery.

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