A scan during surgery helped find movement areas in the brain
Original title: Passive intraoperative motor fMRI under general anesthesia during open-craniotomy glioma surgery: a prospective technical feasibility study.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
This was an early test in only eight people, just to see if the scan could be done.
The short version
Doctors used a brain scan during tumor surgery to find the areas that control movement.
What was studied. Eight adults had surgery for a brain tumor called a glioma: A tumor that starts in the glial cells. Those are the support cells of the brain and spinal cord. Gliomas are given a grade from 1 to 4. The grade says how the tumor is expected to act. See the glossary. While they were asleep, doctors gently bent their fingers and took MRI scans in the operating room.
What they found. The scan showed the movement and feeling area of the brain in every patient. When doctors tested those spots with a small electric current, it caused movement in every patient. A second scan after the tumor was removed worked in seven patients. Each scan took about 5 min.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: This kind of scan may give surgeons a map of movement areas while they operate. Six patients had new or worse problems after surgery. Five of them got fully better, and one improved by 3 months.
What it doesn't mean: This does not mean the scan is proven to make surgery safer. It was an early test of whether the scan can even be done, in only eight people. The team did not measure how exact the maps were. It is not part of normal care, and it is not a cure.
Source: PubMed, September 22, 2026 · Read the original
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